My Fist, Your Mouth, and Her Scars
by Beccatdemon13
Summary: Sometimes there are good reasons to do bad things. Full synopsis inside.
1. Prologue

**My Fist, Your Mouth, Her Scars**

By: Beccatdemon13

©2010

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anyone except for Dorothea Lux and Benjamin Liam Mercer as well as anyone you don't immediately recognize. Please don't sue. You'd only be getting a hell of a lot of textbooks. What? Don't look at me like that College isn't a paying gig you know. But god I wish it was. Beccatdemon13 now will go off to fantasize about the lack of tuition payments that being paid would bring. Oh, right, the story! On we go…

**Synopsis: **Sometimes there are good reasons to do bad things. When a senseless murder rocks a mostly innocent family. Six siblings have to come to terms with the town and the criminal world they left (or tried to leave) behind. They will have to look in their past to avenge the one woman who pulled each and every one of them back from the brink.

**Chapter One: Some Things Never Change**

Tick…tick…tick. There were sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour. Sometimes time just flew by and then there were other times when sixty minutes could feel like sixty hours, especially when one was stuck in a cell that even terrorists would find cruel. It was the size of a small closest, maybe smaller. What made it worse was the fact that the 'arresting officer' had left the handcuffs on. So, her hands were bound behind her back and there was nothing for her to do except to either count the dots on the ceiling (3,415 so far) or watch the clock. Tick…tick…tick. She swore that the fucking clock was taunting her. Tick...tick…tick…ha…ha…ha. That clock was lucky her hands were tied behind her back otherwise it would've been smashed on the floor by now.

"Well, well, well," An authoritative voice sighed. "Lux Mercer, what a surprise to find you in my precinct."

"Hello, Green," The girl muttered blowing out a frustrated breath that caused a few stubborn strands of long caramel hair hiding her hazel green eyes to move away so that she could glare at the man addressing her.

"Lux, what happened this time?" Green asked not bothering to correct the girl that it was Lieutenant Green. He blamed her brothers for casual dismissal of the fact that she was in jail. After all there had been a Mercer in that cell ever since the oldest Mercer child, Bobby, had turned thirteen.

"I was just walking home," Lux shrugged.

"And you walked right into a fight instead?" Green demanded.

"I'm good at time management, walking and fighting," Lux scoffed. "You mind getting these cuffs off of me?"

"Lux," Green groaned.

"Green, please?" Lux muttered. "They're digging into my wrists."

Green regarded the young girl in front of him. Her caramel brown hair was covering her hazel green eyes as she stared straight at him. He shook his head knowing that for as angelic as Lux Mercer looked the truth painted an entirely different story especially with her rap sheet right in front of him.

"Where's that twin of yours?" Green asked.

"Oh, Ben?" Lux smirked her hazel eyes sparkling with mischief. "I wouldn't know."

"Is that right?" I responded. "Where is he, Lux?"

"Home," Lux guessed with a roll of her eyes. "Son of a bitch runs faster than I do."

"Watch that mouth," Green reprimanded.

Lux shot Lieutenant Green a smirk as she raised an eyebrow. She maneuvered herself from laying on the small cot to leaning back against the wall. She eyed the decorated officer in front of her expectantly.

"I don't understand you, Dorothea," Green sighed ignoring the narrowing of the young girl's eyes at her given name. "You have a rap sheet a mile long and yet you manage to get a 4.0 in all honors classes."

Before Lux could respond a slam reverberated around the precinct seconds before a loud, angry voice demanded, "Where the fuck is my sister?"

Green sighed loudly as he unlocked Lux's cell. He wasn't surprised to see the mask of cool indifference slip as the girl balked at the apparent anger in her eldest brother's voice.

"Looks like Bobby's here," Green announced

"Oh, joy," Lux muttered dryly as the aforementioned mask slid back into place.

"Dorothea Mercer, you're bail has been posted!" The office attendant who ran the front desk shouted down to the holding area.

"It's Lux!" Lux growled.

"Easy," Green soothed as he grabbed the girl by the elbow and led her to the front room. They walked quickly towards the main room and Green was not surprised to see all five Mercer brothers with Bobby at the center. Once again, Lieutenant Green sighed as he unlocked Lux's handcuffs.

The five boys ranged from the age of sixteen, like Lux to twenty-six like Bobby. Bobby was the leader of the Mercer children. He was the first kid that Evelyn Mercer adopted from the system. He had quite the attitude and a pretty big violent streak. He had recently channeled his rage into a hockey career. Jerry Mercer was the second oldest at twenty-four years old. Jerry did honest work with a construction committee but back in the day he was Bobby's right hand man when it came to mischief. Angel Mercer was the Casanova of the family. He also had a temper and wasn't afraid to jump headfirst into a fight. That fact alone made him dangerous. Jack Mercer was Evelyn's youngest boy for a long time. He had been with her for seven years. Jack was at the moment a senior in high school and maintained a near perfect detention record for the year surpassing both Bobby's and Angel's own records. The youngest two were twins Benjamin Isaac and Dorothea Lux Mercer were only adopted by Evelyn three years ago but they were already a lot better behaved than when they had both been in a group home.

Despite the trouble that all six got into with the police and other people of Detroit on a near constant basis Green considered them congressmen compared to how they could've been. The foster system in Detroit was severely lacking so much so that a lot of children slid through the cracks and endured the brutality that people could inflict on one another.

The Mercer brood was no exception each and every one of them had been put through the ringer. They had been in places where no child should ever be put in. For instance, if you looked at Lux carefully enough you can see two horrible scars one down her left eyebrow, stopping right before her eyelid and one really jagged on her collarbone. Her brothers also had a mess of horrible scars. Unfortunately, Evelyn Mercer, one of Detroit's best social workers, wasn't any of the Mercer kids first stops. But, Evelyn took them in giving them the two things each of them needed: unconditional love and each other. Together they were all healing

"Way to leave me high and dry, Ben," Lux grumbled rubbing her wrists.

"Learn to run, brat," Ben responded.

"Hey, you two, shut the fuck up," Bobby ordered. "She has a court date?"

"No," Green said. "We found witnesses who say that Lux was just defending herself. We got the girl she was fighting. She's the one who is facing assault charges."

"Can we take her now?'

"You posted bail," Green shrugged, "she's released into your custody."

Bobby moved quickly grabbing Lux's bicep and twirling the girl around. The older man's glare was vicious as Lux squirmed in his grip.

"Move it, little girl," Bobby snapped. "Ma's waiting for you."

"I didn't do anything!" Lux protested.

"You better watch who you raise your voice to, Dorothea," Bobby growled. "Move it."

"I don't know why all of you had to come and get me," Lux mumbled as her brothers escorted her out of the police precinct.

"Shut up," Bobby snapped. "And get in the fucking car."

Lux huffed and rolled her eyes as she got into Bobby's Oldsmobile. She was sitting on Ben's lap as Jerry sat in the passenger seat. Angel and Jack were in the back and Bobby was driving quickly through the heart of Detroit. It didn't take long to get to the Mercer house, especially with Bobby behind the wheel. All the boys hopped out of the car before spinning around to wait for the youngest.

Lux Mercer glanced up at the house and saw the warm lights of the interior as the front door opened. An older woman with wide blue eyes and white hair looked out in her yard

"Come on, boys, get into the house," Evelyn Mercer ordered the brood. "You and I, young lady, need to talk."

Her hazel eyes looked up to the person who she know proudly called mother. Despite breaking the rules and getting arrested. Evelyn had yet to raise her voice or her fist. Instead she led Lux into the backyard.

"What happened, Dorothea ?" Evelyn asked.

"Ben and I were at a party," Lux began. "We heard the sirens so we began to walk home. We were almost home when this girl tackles me out of nowhere. I defended myself and I got busted."

"Where was Benjamin?" Evelyn questioned.

"I told him to run," Lux sighed. "It didn't make sense for him to get in trouble for something I did."

"I'm glad you defended yourself," Evelyn began. "However, you know I do not condone fighting so you're grounded: one week."

"Yes ma'am," Lux replied.

"Now, let's get some food before the boys eat it all," Evelyn grinned.

Evelyn ushered the young girl into the house and she sat down in between Bobby and Ben.

"Did you boys say grace?" Evelyn asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Bobby answered.

The Mercer's ate in relative silence. It was a comfortable silence of a family enjoying one another's company. There were a lot of dark spots in the Mercer's pasts but together they made a strong unit. Evelyn Mercer, the matriarch of the brood was of the opinion that people just needed family. That was proven when a hot head like Bobby could be tamed by giving him younger siblings to watch over.

In the three years Lux and Ben had been with Mercer's they had flourished remarkably. Their checkered past included abuse of all kinds: sexually, mentally, physically, and emotionally: it was all there. Lux had been in and out of institutions after she had attempted to commit suicide at the young age of eleven. Evelyn Mercer had rescued both of them the minute their folders landed across her desk.

The pictures alone of the two thirteen year olds were horrifying. Their bare torsos were riddled with scars and bruises. The one Lux's collarbone and down her wrists resonated deeply with Evelyn. The scared pools of hazel that Benjamin couldn't hide from the camera sent Evelyn Mercer into a frenzy that wouldn't be soothed until both kids were safe.

"Luxie, come on we have homework to do," Benjamin prodded.

"It's Saturday," Lux retorted.

"You both need to do your homework," Evelyn ordered firmly.

"Yes ma'am," Ben and Lux chorused.

"Do you have homework, Jackie?" Evelyn asked.

"Yeah," Jack grumbled.

"Get to it," Evelyn suggested.

"Yes ma'am," Jack replied.

Evelyn watched as her three youngest spread out their books at the kitchen table and began to work. She smiled at them as she walked to the den where the three oldest were playing video games. Bobby looked up and grinned at her before going right back to his game. Evelyn went up stairs to her room to read before she went to bed.

"Look at the good little students," Bobby teased nearly an hour later.

"Leave it alone, man," Jack growled.

"What's wrong, Jackie-O?" Bobby asked.

"Lay off," Lux grumbled. "Stop provoking people, Bobby."

"You have room to talk, runt," Bobby laughed. "It wasn't me who was locked up for fighting."

Lux glared at Bobby before closing her books. She slid them back into her backpack before standing.

"I'm going to bed," Lux announced moving around Bobby to go up the stairs to the room that she and Benjamin shared.

"Was it something I said?" Bobby asked, seriously.

Jack and Benjamin looked at Bobby before rolling their eyes. Bobby Mercer, the one who had quite the temper could also be a little forceful or neglectful about people's feelings. Most of the time Lux gave as good as she got but being locked up even if it had only been for a couple hours but her in a horrible mood.

**Lux's Point of View**

"You okay?" Ben asked as he walked into our room dropping his backpack next to his bed.

"Peachy," I replied changing quickly into a long tee shirt and short shorts.

"Bullshit," Ben grumbled. "What's going on?"

"I was locked up for six hours," I shrugged. "I hate being stuck in closed spaces like that. I'll be okay."

"You sure?" Ben questioned.

"Dude," I warned.

Ben held out his hands in a surrendering gesture. As we both got ready for bed. The truth was even with my attitude I was grateful that my brothers had gotten me as fast as they did. And even though I knew Evelyn would never hurt me I was still afraid whenever I got in trouble. It was a natural instinct to want to run after all the abuse I had been exposed to. My old foster parents would hit me for anything and everything that they deemed wrong.

Even if Bobby was a bit too hot headed I knew he would never hurt me or at least not intentionally. Bobby would never hit any of us but he could make you feel like an inch tall if he was lecturing you. He was the one brother I knew would fly to my rescue in an instant and beat the crap out of anyone in his way. The others were just as willing but Bobby had that big-brother protection thing down to a science.


	2. Innocence and Instinct

**Chapter Two: Innocence and Instinct**

I wasn't stupid; Detroit was dangerous at all hours of the day. I had grown up on these streets but it was still my home and I loved it. There was something about watching the sun come up over the suburbs near the very edge of the city that made it look peaceful. Most of the time I had trouble sleeping, often waking up way before the rest of my family. I loved that the window in our room was overlooking the rest of the street. It was one of the easiest rooms to sneak out of; unfortunately, Bobby's room was right next to ours so he was really the main obstacle.

I slid open the window and crawled out, closing it behind me. I moved carefully along the roof before using the window ledge to climb up to the main roof. I folded my arms laying them on my knees as I watched the sun come up and people began to wake up. It would be a while yet until my brothers woke up but I could hear Evelyn beginning to make breakfast. The smell of coffee and pancakes rose in the air. I smiled content to stay out here as long as I possibly could. When I heard the slams of my brothers awakening I knew that I'd have to get down sooner rather than later.

"Ma, have you seen Lux?" Bobby shouted down the stairs.

"She isn't still asleep?" Ma asked.

"Nope," Ben said. "I heard her wake up an hour or two ago."

I frowned down in the direction of our bedroom. Honestly, I wondered if Ben tried to get me in trouble or he just was naturally talented at it. I made up my mind that maybe I'd let it slip that he hadn't been in school for the past three weeks. I didn't exactly know what homework he was doing since he wouldn't even know what had been assigned. We were barely in any of the same classes.

One of the windows on this side flew open as Bobby stuck his head out, "Lux, I swear on all that's holy if you're up there…"

"You'll what, Bobby?" I asked as I jumped down from the roof that covered the attic to the one that covered the first floor of the house and the enclosed porch.

"Get your skinny ass back in this house before you break your fool head," Bobby grumbled.

"Gosh, Bobby, you're so cheerful in the mornings," I snickered as I made my way back into the house, "honestly, it's disgusting."

I grinned at my oldest brother who had his arms crossed over his chest as he glowered at me. I turned around and shut the window behind me, not suspecting Bobby to place a ringing slap on my ass.

"Ow, Bobby!" I complained shoving him backwards.

"You know better than to climb around our roof," Bobby retorted.

"I like watching the sun rise," I grumbled.

Bobby rolled his eyes shoving me in the direction of the hallway seconds before Ma called us down for brunch. I was on the stairs as I heard the remaining doors being thrown open as we all raced down the stairs. We all walked to our rightful sights. Bobby and Ma at the heads of the table with Jack, Angel, and Jerry on one side with Ben and I on the other. Before we sat down we all held hands as Ma said grace. We all sat down and began shoveling bacon, waffles, and eggs on our plates.

"What is everyone up to today?" Ma asked.

"We're going to play hockey," Bobby stated before anyone could comment.

"You're not running shit, Bobby, I have plans today," Angel complained.

"Man, is La Vida Loca ever going to let you wear the pants in your relationship?" Bobby teased.

"Don't start with that crap," Angel snapped.

"You're going to play hockey, Angel, I don't give a fuck who you wanna fuck," Bobby snapped.

"Boys," Ma warned.

I fought back a smirk as both Bobby and Angel shifted in their seats before apologizing. Ma really wasn't strict about a lot of things but she didn't like it whenever we fought for real or cursed at each other at the table. Roughhousing and bantering were perfectly acceptable and Ma was tolerate of a lot, which was why we tended to listen to her rules. Most of the time we were only grounded if we caused a lot of trouble or we really missed our curfew by a couple of hours.

"I think spending a day at the hockey rink would be nice," Ma said.

That solidified that we'd be going down to the rink later. It was one of the nicer things that Detroit had done for its youth. In the fall, spring, and summer it was a concrete rink that we'd be able to skate and play hockey on. In the winter it was iced over so we could play Ice Hockey. Of course all the lights turned off at ten trying to keep us off the streets.

After breakfast I helped Ma wash the dishes before running back upstairs to grab my hockey gear and skates. I ran back downstairs as Bobby led us all out of the house. One of the first things Ben and I ever got at the Mercer home was our own skates and a hockey stick. We all dropped our stuff in the trunk as Bobby drove quickly to the rink. We all dropped our duffel bags on the metal bleachers as I laced up my skates. I was gliding around waiting for what Bobby was going to do. There were other people on the rink and I knew that he'd bully them into playing with us.

It was six on six and the other team was all guys. I grinned at the person I was facing off against. He was cute enough except for the fact he was leering at me. I don't think he knew who we were. I mean Bobby's nickname was the Michigan Mauler and he was about to be a starter for the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. Ma had been so proud when Bobby had finally told us. Jerry and Angel were currently working at the local workers union, while Jack, Ben, and I were in high school.

The game started quickly as Bobby took the puck as Jack, Angel, Jerry, and Bobby collided with other people as I ducked around the person I was supposed to guard. The pick snapped towards me as I glided quickly towards the goal. Before I could shoot, I was knocked into the wall as the pick was stolen. I growled as I turned back around nodding my head that I was okay as Ben blocked the goal.

The person who know had the puck was the one who had checked me so I my stick between his legs knocking his feet out from under him leaving him sprawled on his back as I hit the puck to Bobby who scored our first goal. I smiled at the guy who had been leering at me as he pulled himself off the ground.

As I skated around the rink I knew that the leering person was closely shadowing me. I rolled my eyes glad that my brothers hadn't noticed yet. If and when they did it would not end well. Just as Angel passed me the puck I was slammed back into the wall. All the noise and taunts that had been flying freely stopped as I struggled to stay on my feet as pain surged through my body. That hit had been completely unnecessary and I knew that he had managed to punch me along with slamming as hard as possible against the wall.

"Hey!" Bobby snapped as my brothers began to skate towards the guy.

I beat them all too the punch, taking my hockey stick and cracking it over the guy's head. He let out a growl as the guy stumbled forward managing to punch me again as I moved to lunge. Suddenly I was dangling in the air as I fought tooth and nail to get another punch as Bobby and Angel grabbed the guy by his shirt and slamming him against the wall as they both punched him.

"Let me go, Jackie!" I complained.

"You gonna crack someone over the head with a hockey stick again?" Jack retorted. "You're lucky Ma let you out of the house when you're grounded and this is how you repay her?"

"The punk was asking for it," I snapped. "Hitting on me and then when I turned him down he checked me at any opportunity."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that now," Jack snickered placing me back to my feet as he regarded me seriously. "You okay?"

"Yeah, of course," I smiled.

"He checked you a little hard, Lux," Ben said.

"I'm okay," I repeated.

We left rather quickly after that. The others that kid was with had scattered when the fight had broke out and I didn't see if the guy was still there before I was being dragged off the rink and the car.

"What the fuck was that?" Bobby demanded. "You were locked up last night for fighting and I talk Ma into letting you out with us outta the goodness of my heart and you smack a kid with your hockey stick?"

"The asshole started it Bobby hitting on me and checking me and I defended myself," I retorted. "Just because I got first blow…"

"Shut up, Lux," Bobby ordered. "Consider your grounding extended."

"What?" I complained. "Bobby, that is so hypocritical. You've been in the tombs more times than I can count for fighting!"

"I don't give a shit, little girl, you think it's unfair take it up with Ma," Bobby stated.

I leaned back in my seat and glowered at Bobby's head knowing that Ma would agree with him and it wasn't like I didn't deserve it. I knew that I was quick to anger and even quicker to defend myself. That resulted in numerous stints in the tombs, a long record of assault and battery charges and an even longer detention and suspension record. Despite all that I still managed to get decent grades mostly Bs some As.

Ben wasn't any better it was often that we were in detention or suspended together. The others had taught Ben that if I was in trouble he shouldn't hesitate to jump into the scuffle, regardless of whether I had it handled or not. That protective instinct ran deep in all of us. We had a family, people who loved and cared for us, which wasn't something any of us would give up without a fight.

What made me angry was that some people in the neighborhood thought they could tell Ma how to raise the lot o' us. Most people said boot camp or any number of reforming boarding schools. The thing was that regardless of where you came from people raised hell in Detroit, which was why I didn't we were really all that bad. We didn't attack unprovoked; we minded our manners when we were supposed to. Teachers were of the mind that we needed to respect them but they were free to belittle us and patronize us at any given opportunity.

I hated Cass Technical High School. It was the school of us had attended, which was a good and bad thing. Most teachers couldn't stand Bobby. Angel was a little better not much, though. He didn't normally get busted for fighting. Whenever Angel was in trouble at school it was because he and his on-again off-again girlfriend Sofia Rodriquez were caught making out in various states of undress in a good number of janitor's closets. Teachers loved Jerry. He was the good one out of the lot. He was quiet and respectful but was often roped into fights as a result of us. I don't know whether or not he had calmed down ever since he had met Camille in his senior year or because he was sick and tired of being in trouble all the time. I had to admit it was exhausting then again I was a magnet for trouble.

By the time we were back at the house, Bobby's temper had cooled slightly as we all moved out of the car. Angel, Jack, and Ben moved back into the house while Jerry, Bobby, and I stayed outside.

"What's going on Luxie?" Jerry asked. "You've been getting into fights a lot more frequently, don't think we haven't noticed."

"Jerry, it's nothing," I responded.

"Really?" Bobby questioned.

"Yeah, really," I replied. "That bitch and that mother fucker at the rink both started it. I was just finishing it."

"Get into the house," Bobby ordered sharply.

**Evelyn's Point of View**

Raising the Mercer brood was no easy task, not that you'd know it by the way Evelyn was able to control them all. Sure, they all still got in trouble but Evelyn Mercer had done wonders for each child in her care.

"Ben," Evelyn called. "Lux, you both have school in an hour. You better move if you want a ride with Jackie and Bobby."

Groans met her statement as the twins woke up and began go get ready. Suddenly the drowsiness vanished in front of Evelyn's very eyes as both Ben and Lux eyed one another before they broke into a run. Evelyn flattened herself against the wall as every one of her children's doors opened at once as everyone made a mad dash to the bathroom with Lux in the lead. She got into the bathroom, slamming it right as both Ben and Jack hit the door at the same time. Evelyn laughed as all her children glared at the door as Lux's cheer of victory and the gurgle of the shower springing to life rang clear in the small hallway.

"You better not use up all the hot water!" Jack shouted.

"Yeah, Luxie, you know how Fairy boy loves his hot baths," Bobby snickered.

"Damn it, Bobby," Jack muttered. "It's too damn early to start with that shit."

"It's too early to start with the language either," I teased as Bobby and Jack. "Bobby, can you give them a ride to school?"

"Of course," Bobby replied as Lux came out of the bathroom running fingers through her damp brown hair.

Ben shoved by Lux who walked down the hallway and into her room. The boys could complain all they wanted to about how Lux always managed to get the first shower but she was never in there for more than ten minutes.

I walked down the stairs and made sure that everyone had breakfast while giving Jack, Ben, and Lux their lunches as Bobby ushered them out the door. Angel and Jerry came down shortly after. After a nice breakfast I gave them a lift to the Union as I went to work. For as hectic as life was and how troublesome my kids could be, I wouldn't change any of it for a minute. They all were completely different people compared to when I first saw them. These were children a mother could be proud of.

**Ben's Point of View**

"You all better stay outta trouble!" Bobby snapped as he pulled away from the curb.

Jack, Lux, and I exchanged glances before we all rolled our eyes. Immediately thereafter we all went our separate ways to hang out with our friends before school. I knew that Jack was going to the back of the school, close to the football field to hang out with his friends/band members and groupies. Lux and her friends hung out in the front of the school, where they could easily sneak in and out, which they often did.

Lux's group of friends was eclectic to say the least. She was in nearly all honors classes and had friends in those classes while hanging out with the people who skipped school and went to fairly wild parties.

Cass Technical High School might as well have been hell on earth for as annoying as it all was. The metal detectors that ensured our safety also made it so that if you didn't get to school at least a half hour early you'd be late to homeroom. The teachers were all patronizing in some form or another and there were fights at least two times a day. I hated this school and almost everyone in it except for four people, two of them being family. The other two was my best friend Luke Sheridan and my girlfriend, Annabel Olson.

"Hey, man!" Luke called.

Both Luke and Annabel were hanging out by my locker. I went up to them and dropped my stuff in my locker. I bumped fists with Luke before kissing Annabel.

"You know if it wasn't for you and Lux we would've been arrested," Luke laughed. "The cops showed not even ten minutes after we left."

"What can I say?" I smirked. "It's a gift."

Luke just shook his head as I got the books I'd need out of my locker while Annabel began talking about what projects and papers I had missed. It had been at least a few weeks since I had began skipping school. Most of the time I just wandered around or went home to sleep more. Ma never noticed because worked in the daytime and so did Angel, Jerry, and Bobby.

The warning bell sounded overheard as I began to walk with Luke and Anna to homeroom. I saw Lux going the other direction she looked over to me and smiled before she began to talk about AP Calculus BC with her friend Quinn. I sighed as I wandered into my first period Math class sitting in my seat in the back of the room as the teacher eyed me in disapproval. Honestly, just because Bobby set his car on fire when Bobby was a senior here didn't mean I would.

But, like it or not the Mercers had a reputation both in this school and in the neighborhood. Everyone knew everything about us. They knew about our pasts before we were in Evelyn's care. They witnessed the fights and antagonism towards any kind of authority figure. Most of us spent a lot of time in detention, which was probably why Lux threw everyone for a loop. How could someone so smart be so much trouble? I knew that she just liked to keep her options open and just because she was smart didn't mean she wouldn't cause trouble. Half the time she did get in trouble in this school was when she wasn't being challenged enough in classes, causing her to act out more often than not.

One of the main reasons I hated school so much and the reason why I skipped was because of my learning disabilities. I had dyslexia, which meant that sometimes I had trouble reading or writing. I've had it my entire life and what most people didn't seem to understand was just because I had dyslexia didn't mean I was stupid. In fact most people with learning disabilities were of average or above average intelligence. Not that anyone here would know that, once the teachers take a look at my file they think I'm retarded and leaves me alone. Detroit wasn't exactly the place that parent's would enjoy sending their children to in general especially when kids have special needs.

There were a lot of other kids with learning disability walking around here some of them are worse then mine. It causes them to be a distraction to the other students, which is why they have a classroom all to themselves. They don't change classes, and school lunch gets brought to them. They tried to put me in a room like that but Ma rescued me. Thank god.

Classes went by in a blur and before I knew it I was back at my locker grabbing my backpack and nearly all my books. I guess that's what I got for missing three weeks worth of school. As I was turning around I saw that Lux was walking down the hallway stopping a her locker. I had never really paid all that much attention to what my sister wore. But that all changed when I noticed a group of guys checking her out.

Lux didn't notice the attention pulling books into her backpack before dropping it on the ground, looking around her locker for something or another. I noticed how much she filled out her jeans and that tank top she loved to wear. She had borrowed one of my zip-up hoodies, which only seemed to extenuate her curves. She turned around shutting her locker and spinning the lock. Lux then noticed the guy's who were looking at her. I don't know how I wanted her to react but leaning back against her locker with a smirk that personified sex wasn't it. I knew that smirk because it was the same one I used on Annabel on a frequent basis.

**Lux's Point of View**

Sometimes being the youngest Mercer wasn't all it was cracked up to be. School had passed by with little incident. I had a bunch of exams but it wasn't anything nerve inducing. I was moving books around in my locker and putting some in my backpack as I felt eyes burning holes in my back.

As I turned I noticed that Ben was watching me while eyeing the group of my guys that were staring at me. I smirked at them as I watched Jack walk through the hallway stopping to talk to Ben. It wasn't necessarily unheard of for a senior to be in the junior hallway but it didn't happen all that often. I groaned as Jack walked the short distance between Ben's locker and mine, throwing his arm over my shoulder.

"Hi, Luxie," Jack beamed. "Now, what is going on here?"

"Jack," I mumbled.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your little friends?" Jack questioned looking at the boys across the hallway. His smile turning from friendly to threatening.

"Jackie," I protested.

"What?" Jack laughed.

I rolled my eyes as I shook off Jack's arm, shifting my backpack onto my back.

"Let's go, Bobby's waiting for us," Jack said nudging me towards the door.

I sighed walking towards the entrance smiling at the boys assembled one more time as Jack and Ben led me out of the school. I had tried to reason with them that if Ben was allowed to date I should be able too. That explanation hadn't worked out too well the whole lot of them put a whole new spin on overprotective.

I also didn't wanna start a fight with them, especially not at school. I felt for Ben, he was smart as hell but dyslexia was quite the thing to overcome. School put him in one hell of a bad mood. Most of the time Ben was pretty cool, going with the flow type of person but when he got angry, he got very angry.

True to Jack's word, Bobby was waiting in the parking lot. People were giving a wide berth around the car and where Bobby waited, leaning against the passenger side door. His eyes sparkled in amusement as we approached.

"Now, I'm surprised," Bobby laughed. "None of you managed to get into trouble today? Is this a sign of the fucking apocalypse or what?"

"I resent that," I muttered.

"Do you now, bookworm?" Bobby laughed.

We all got into the car and Bobby rocketed out of the parking lot nearly hitting one car and cutting off two others. I don't know who exactly had given Bobby his license but that person should have their head examined. But knowing my eldest brother he had probably threatened the person into giving him the license.

Bobby dropped us off at the house saying something like being back later. Bobby had an hour break at practice where he picked us up and got lunch before going back. Jack muttered something about band practice and ambled off in the other direction, which left Ben and I alone. We set up shop in the dining room table spreading out all our books. My homework didn't take that long to do so when I finished I helped my brother with all of his work. I explained a few math problems and helped him analyze a couple of English passages.

"I can't wait until we graduate," Ben muttered tossing his books back into his backpack before grabbing a Coke and wandering into the living room. He turned on the PS2 grabbing the controller and began playing _Grand Theft Auto_. I sat in the Laz-E-Boy as I read Othello for English class.

Angel was the first one home and unfortunately he didn't come home alone. Sofi trailed in behind him and smiled in at Ben and I before they snuck into the Laundry Room. Ben and I exchanged glances before rolling her eyes. We were going to have to talk to Ma about getting a new dryer because that was where Angel and Sofi decided to have sex. It was revolting but at least the sound of the dryer masked her screams of pleasure either that or he was torturing her, it didn't matter just as long as we didn't have to hear it.

"Bobby's going to be pissed, " Ben sniggered. "He hates that girl."

"I bet you twenty dollars Angel throws the first punch," I smirked.

"I'll take that bet," Ben agreed.

Within the hour Jerry and his girlfriend, Camille had come home as well as Ma and Bobby. Ben and I continued to play the video game until Bobby kicked us off to watch a hockey game instead.

"Oh, man, that's nasty!" Jerry complained.

"She's addicted," Jack sang loudly as he walked through the back door, "to what Angel's dick did."

"Jackie-O, I'm gonna kill you!" Angel growled after Sofi shrieked in indignation.

"What are you doing in here, ho?" Bobby demanded.

"Robert Mercer, you know better than to talk to women that way," Ma scolded from the kitchen.

"Aw, Ma, Sofi's not a woman…"

Sofi interrupted Bobby's insult with a string of Spanish that from the tone of her voice was far from friendly.

"Does it look like I speak Spanish?" Bobby growled.

"Bobby, don't start with that shit," Angel complained.

"Loco Ono doesn't belong in this house, Angel," Bobby snapped. "I'm surprised we all haven't caught venereal diseases from that skank."

"You ain't running shit, Bobby!" Angel yelled.

Ben and I exchanged looks before we went into the kitchen both of us leaning on either sides of the threshold watching as Angel and Bobby stood chest to chest glowering at one another. Camille and Ma were making dinner. Jerry was reading the paper watching the preceding as Sofi glared angrily at Bobby.

And just like clockwork Angel threw the first punch and it connected rather hard with Bobby's jaw. Bobby shoved him away only to pull him in and put him in a headlock. I grinned as Ma shook her head looking at us affectionately as Camille and Sofi looked surprised. I held out my hand and Ben rolled his eyes before giving me twenty bucks.

"Did you two bet on us?" Angel growled as he shoved Bobby in the ribs in order to get out of the headlock.

"Yup," I smirked. "You just won me twenty bucks, Ang, thanks."

"Baby girl," Angel began.

"What was the bet?" Bobby asked smoothing back his hair.

"That Angel would throw the first punch when you starting shooting your mouth off," I shrugged.

"Guys, dinner," Ma announced pulling a casserole from the oven. "Sofi, are you staying for dinner?"

"No, Ms. Mercer," Sofi whispered still glaring daggers at Bobby. "Mama is expecting me home for dinner."

"Okay," Ma smiled. "Angel, are you going to walk your girlfriend to the door?"

"Yes, Ma," Angel said grabbing Sofi's coat as he ushered her to the door, socking Bobby in the shoulder before he could say anything.

I grabbed the salad as Camille brought the casserole to the table. We all gathered around with Ma doling out portions and Jack setting the table. When everything was set up we joined hands and said grace before sitting down and eating. I looked up and noticed that Camille looked nervous before I could ask if she was okay, Jerry cleared his throat.

"Camille and I would like to make an announcement," Jerry announced and once he had everyone's attention he continued, "I proposed this afternoon and she said yes."

"Oh, Jerry, that's terrific!" Ma cried. "Welcome to the family baby."

"You ready for all this?" I laughed.

"Of course," Camille grinned.

"Let's see the ring," Ma prodded.

Camille held out her hand and there on her ring finger was the diamond ring. It gleamed in the low lighting of the dining room and I smiled it was a very beautiful ring. It was a simple platinum band with a decent diamond in the middle. The boys seemed stunned by the announcement all of them just sort of gaping at Jerry.

"You knock her up?" Bobby asked.

I rolled my eyes and stomped on Bobby's foot. He grunted and glared at me as Camille looked shocked before bursting into laughter. That was not the reaction I was expecting and from Bobby's face he hadn't either.

"You see, this is how you keep winning me, money, you don't know when to keep your mouth shut," I scoffed.

"You're one to talk, baby girl," Bobby retorted. "So, are you?"

"Yes, actually," Camille admitted and then it was Jerry's turn to look surprised. Well, it was more of a deer-in-the-headlights look, which made me smile widely.

"Grandchildren?" Ma squeaked. "That's wonderful!"

Dinner went fast after that with Ma and Camille chatting about wedding plans and baby names. The boys didn't say much as I cleared the table before going upstairs to my room. Steps on the stairs a few minutes later signaled that I wasn't going to be alone for long.

"Hey," I called without looking behind me as my door shut.

"You know those boys were starring at your ass today in school," Ben said.

"I figured as much," I mused turning around to meet his eyes unabashedly. "That as probably why Jack decided to cock block me."

"Lux!" Ben grimaced. "That's disgusting."

"It's true," I shrugged. "You guys never let me have any fun."

"That isn't true," Ben disagreed.

"You and the others chase away all the guys who show any interest in me."

"No one's good enough for you."

"That's bullshit, Benjamin."

"Is it, Dorothea?"

"Yeah, it is," I snapped. "I don't chase away your girlfriend, or Jerry's fiancé, or Angel's skank!"

"That's different," Ben stated firmly.

"No, it isn't!" I spat. "You guys are being completely overprotective. I can take care of myself!"

"It doesn't matter," Ben shook his head. "You think we won't stop protecting you just because you think you can handle yourself?"

"I'm going to date and you guys can't stop me," I growled firmly.

"That's what you think," Ben smirked. "Try it and see what happens."

My lips curled into a sneer as I glared at my brother. The lot of them could be completely unreasonable. I shook my head going out of the room making sure to knock my shoulder against his to get him out of my way as I stormed into the bathroom. I was going to date and no one was going to stop me.

The next morning I woke up earlier than I normally did. I took a shower, changed into one of my nicer fitting pairs of jeans and a tee shirt that showed about an inch of my stomach. I slid into the hoodie that I had stolen from Ben weeks ago as I hopped down the stairs taking an apple along the way before going out into the quiet morning. Ben and I hadn't talked since our fight and the others were starting to get suspicious. I didn't want to wait for Bobby to give Jack, Ben, and I a ride to school, which was why I was currently walking. It was almost 7:45 by the time I got to school, walking had taken a little longer than I had anticipated but I still fifteen minutes early.

"Lux!" Someone called.

I turned on my heel and noticed that Theodore Alexander was leaning against the chain link fence that surrounded the entirety of Cass Technical High School. Theodore otherwise known as Theo was in all of my honors classes. He was scary smart and dangerously cunning having an explosive mix of street smarts and book smarts. Theo was about six foot two and had shaggy dark brown hair and light blue eyes.

"Hey, Theo," I grinned.

I closed the distance between us and leaned against the chain link next to him.

"Want one?" Theo asked offering me a cigarette.

"Sure, why not?" I laughed.

I took the cigarette he offered and placed it in between my lips. Theo held up the lighter and lit my cigarette for me. I inhaled deeply and sighed.

"You wanna get dinner some time?" Theo asked.

"You're not afraid of my brothers?" I retorted.

"Should I be?" Theo responded.

"No but most people are," I shrugged.

I inhaled the last of the cigarette throwing the butt down to the ground and stomping it out. Before I could move Theo had shifted positions so that his hands were on either side of my head as he leaned down and kissed me. The kiss was soft and hesitant at first before it quickly progressed into a fairly heavy make out session. One of his palms cupped my face as his fingers tangled in my hair.

It wasn't until I heard the familiar sound of the Oldsmobile that I realized that this probably wasn't the best idea. It was against school rules to have public displays of affection and Theo and I weren't exactly in a hidden part of the school. Still we continued to kiss, one of his legs in between my own. I didn't even remember the last time I had kissed a boy, probably when I was a little too tipsy.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing to my sister?" Ben shouted.

Theo was ripped away from me and slammed against the brick wall of the school.

"Benjamin, stop it!" I ordered sharply.

I glanced around and saw that Ben's display of violence had not gone unnoticed by both Bobby and Jack, the aforementioned were closing the distance between them and us.

"You're making a scene," I hissed.

"What the hell did I tell you?" Ben demanded.

"I'm sorry," I told Theo. "My brother's an idiot."

"I'm an idiot?" Ben repeated. "I'm not the one who can't follow simple instructions!"

"You're not the boss of me!" I retorted irately.

Ben let go of Theo in order to turn around and glare at me. Theo looked like he wanted to stick around but I shook my head and he shrugged before ambling off towards the entrance as Ben and I closed the distance between one another.

"I might not be the boss of you but you're not some whore," Ben snapped. "Or maybe you are, making out with someone in front of the school."

"Take it back," I growled.

"What are you going to do about it?" Ben goaded.

I took a deep breath before turning away. Just when Ben thought I had given up I spun around punching him as hard as I could. Ben stumbled back, not expecting the blow. He quickly came back, shoving me into the fence. He grabbed me by the front of the shirt pulling me into a headlock as I kicked his ankles together sending the two of us sprawling to the ground. I growled going to punch him again as I was pulled away from Ben only to be tossed back to the ground with Ben landing in a heap right next to me.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing?" Bobby demanded.

"He fucking started it," I growled.

"Yeah, well she's the one acting like a slut," Ben retorted.

"Hey!" Bobby warned. "That's your little sister."

"She was making out with that guy in front of everyone," Ben protested.

"I like him," I snapped. "And he likes me. You have a girlfriend there's no difference."

"Theo Alexander isn't the right guy for you," Ben shook his head.

"You're not the one who gets to decide that," I hissed.

"Both of you shut up," Bobby ordered firmly. "Since when do you guys fight at all let alone on school property."

"He's been a prick for days," I muttered.

"Dorothea," Bobby warned before turning to Jack. "Get to class and tell the main office that the Mercer Twins are sick."

"Bobby," I protested.

"Not a word, Lux," Bobby snapped.

I sighed and glared at both Ben and Bobby as I stood up, straightened my clothing before storming off towards the Oldsmobile. A few minutes later Ben and Bobby followed after me. Bobby seemed as angry as every while Ben seemed a bit more apologetic. It was a short drive back to the house and I walked up the walkway and into the house. Bobby came in next pointing towards the couch.

I shook my head as I sat one the couch with Ben sitting next to me. Bobby stood in front of the coffee table and looked down at us. His hands were on his hips as he stared both of us down. We both squirmed uneasily. Because if Ma was the Matriarch of the Mercer clan than Bobby had dips on the Patriarch position. As the oldest, he was there to offer advice, dole out plenty of tough love, and occasionally be a shoulder to cry on. Not that Mr. Tough Guy would admit to that.

"I'm surprised at the two of you," Bobby began. "You two are normally attached at the hip and now you're at each other's throats?"

"Well, he's being a pretentious prick," I growled. "I can date who I want to."

"I wouldn't go that far, little girl," Bobby corrected. "However, you're not a nun you can date."

"Thank you," I smiled.

"But, any boy you date has to meet the family," Bobby grinned.

"Fine," I replied.

"Good," Bobby said. "Now I gotta go to work. If you two don't work this shit out by the time I get back I'll settle it for you."

With that Bobby left the living room and went to work leaving Ben and I alone. I huffed as I got off the couch and up to our room closing the door. Seconds later the PS2 turned on and the sound of guns filled the living room. I growled as I turned on my sound system and began to read. Nearly two hours later there was a knock on the door before Ben came into the room closing the door behind us as he switched off the music.

"I'm sorry," Ben stated. "The guys in our school are dicks and I overreacted."

"I'm sorry for punching you in the face," I replied.

"You can definitely handle yourself in a fight," Ben laughed. "But, I'm not going to stop looking after you. Too much has happened when I wasn't there and it won't happen again."

I got off my bed closing the distance between us and wrapping my arms around his waist burying my face into his neck. He hugged me too, his chin resting on top of my head.

"How much you want to bet that I'm grounded now too?" Ben asked as we pulled apart.

"No contest," I responded. "Bobby was pissed and Ma won't be thrilled when she finds out."


	3. City of Delusion

**_Author's Note: Hello everyone, I've revised some of Chapter One and Two. I watched the movie again recently and completely forgot that Jerry's youngest daughter is named Daniella. So, Danny's name has changed from Daniel (Danny) to Benjamin (Ben, Benny, etc). I'm sorry for any confusion this causes and I am pretty sure that this will be the last name change of the story. _**

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**Chapter Three: City of Delusion**

**Four Months Later**

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Bobby yelled one Saturday morning causing both Ben and I to groan angrily.

I attempted to focus my blurred vision enough to look at the time and muttered a string of obscenities as I rolled over. It was only about eight in the morning. Once school really picked up into high gear I valued what extra sleep I could get on the weekends. Although, Bobby seemed to have other plans as he continued to yell at someone, predictably a crash soon followed. I sat up in my bed before I climbed out. Ben followed suit and I fought back a laugh, Ben had a serious case of bedhead.

I opened up our door and walked down a few steps so that I could look into the living room where Angel and Bobby were fighting.

"Would you both mind shutting up?" I shouted. "It's eight in the morning!"

"What's going on?" Ben asked.

"Ask jarhead!" Bobby snapped as he stood to his feet.

Angel glared at Bobby before standing up himself.

"Is that where you've been disappearing too?" Ben questioned.

"You joined that army?" I responded.

"The marines, actually," Angel corrected. "And thanks Bobby. Real nice reaction."

"There's a war, Angel," Bobby spat. "In case you forgot."

"It just fucking started, Bobby," Angel growled. "Who knows where they're going to send me."

"Why would you do this, Angel?" I asked. "You already had a job."

"Because it'll be better for everyone," Angel explained. "And when I'm done with my service. They'll pay for college or vocational school and they'll help for mortgages'."

Ben and I exchanged looks at that. After all, none of us had been to college yet. Bobby, Jeremiah, and Angel had gone straight to work after graduation. I figured that Ben would follow suit but I really wanted to go to school. The only hope I had, however, was a full ride scholarship. So, when Angel stood there telling us how the government would be willing to help pay for all that then I couldn't exactly be mad at him. Although, I could be concerned and I was.

A few days after we had started school the worst thing happened. We had all come home from various places to find Ma crying, watching the news. It was on September 11, 2001 that terrorists attacked the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City. It was something that we never thought would happen and it was pretty scary. The basic cable channels had 24/7 coverage about what was happening and what the government would do in response. Although, it was fairly simple to tell. The country was crying for war so the government declared it as such on September 15, 2001.

Now that it was December things had yet to slow down and the coverage of the war was anything but pleasant. There were a lot of casualties and a good chunk of it was our own soldiers. So, there was a fair chance that they'd be sending Angel right into the thick of things.

"Does Ma know?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah," Angel snorted. "She was the first person I told. She's known about it and has been waiting for me to tell you guys."

"When do you leave?" Ben asked.

"Basic training starts in few days," Angel winced.

"Does Sofi know?" Bobby smirked.

"Is that why you two have been fighting?" I laughed. "Ya know that girl's insanely clingy Angel."

"Shut up, Luxie," Angel barked.

I laughed as I ambled down the rest of my stairs and into the kitchen. I poured cheerios in a bowl before getting out the milk and pouring some in. Ben walked in a few minutes later with Bobby and Angel on his heels. Ben sat next to me after he poured himself some cereal. Angel and Bobby just had coffee.

It wasn't all that surprising when Ma came through the door with a few bags of groceries in her hand. She smiled at all of us as she dropped the groceries on the counter. I walked up and began to put the food away as the guys went out to the car to help Ma bring the rest in.

"Did Angel finally tell you his news?" Ma asked, sending Angel a smile.

"Yeah, Ma, I told them," Angel replied. "The only person I haven't is Jerry."

"He should be coming over for dinner," Ma stated.

After we had put away the groceries and washed the dishes we all went our separate ways. I showered and changed into a sweatshirt and a pair of skinny jeans. I put on my sneakers and ran down the stairs. I snagged my coat as I tried to leave the house.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bobby asked blocking the door with his arm.

"Out," I shrugged.

"Out where?" Bobby grumbled.

"The door, for starters," I smirked.

"Lux," Bobby warned.

"I'm just going to the library," I replied. "I need to use the computers for a project."

"We have a computer," Bobby retorted.

"Ben has projects too," I shrugged.

"Hey, yo, Benny!" Bobby shouted. His voice echoing clear to the basement where the computer was.

"What?" Ben replied.

"Go to the library with your sister," Bobby said.

"Bobby," I complained. "I can walk to the library by myself."

"Be back by six," Bobby stated. "Okay?"

"Okay," I answered.

Bobby lowered his arm and I opened up the door and shut it behind me. The library was only a few blocks away. It took me only about twenty minutes to walk there and I welcomed the sudden blast of warm air as I opened the door. I nodded towards Ms. Higgins, the head librarian as I walked over to the computer cluster.

It was surprisingly empty in the library, normally there would be senior citizens and other adults roaming around or other kids taking advantage of the free internet. I shrugged off the abnormalities and worked on my British Literature paper. I shook my head, vowing that next time I'd research titles before I volunteered to do something. That mistake led to reading the complete translation of _Beowulf_ in its entirety. It was an old English epic poem that just happened to be one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature. One of the positives of the poem being on the rather long side was that the paper would meet it's minimum of twelve pages.

By the time I had finished the paper it was almost five thirty. I sighed as I willed the paper to print quickly so that I wouldn't' be late for dinner. I grabbed the thirteen sheets of paper from the printer and stapled them together before shoving it into my backpack. I waved goodbye to Ms. Higgins as I rushed out of the library and broke into a run.

I opened the door four minutes past six and grinned widely. The house smelled great and it was filled with laughter and nice conversation. It was a nice, warm place to come back to and it was a far cry from the places where I had spent the majority of my adolescence. The iciness and soullessness of those institutions made my skin crawl just by thinking of them. I owed Evelyn Mercer a lot for many different reasons. Most of which was for rescuing me from that god-awful place and reuniting me with Ben.

Ben had gone through foster home hell enduring abuse I couldn't even imagine. I, on the other hand had been abused in the mental hospital I had been sent to. After all who is going to listen to a manic depressive patient who screams rape.

The foster family I had been with was horrible; my foster father had lured me into a false sense of security by being nice to me and buying me whatever I wanted; only to rape me in the middle of the night. I had tried to tell my foster mother but she didn't believe me and had locked me in my room. She had believed her husband despite the overwhelming evidence that supported my side of the story. He had beat me that night and promised more of the same if I didn't keep my mouth shut.

Within that hopeless situation the only way out I could come up with was taking a kitchen knife to both of my wrists. The next time I woke up I had my foster parents weeping over me, playing the part of the concern parent. Using their false stories about what I was like at home I was diagnosed as with manic-depressive disorder. A disorder characterized by swings of mood to the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. The doctor theorized that when I had been in that 'low' category, I had tried to kill myself.

I was in Meadow Brook Psychiatric Hospital for nearly two and a half years. In that time my foster family cut all ties and the system figured I was okay where I was. I figured I'd be stuck there my entire life, never to see Ben again, until Evelyn Mercer paid me a visit.

She built a case showing that I had been wrongly diagnosed and that those 'self inflicted wounds' slit wrists aside were not of my doing and I was released into her custody. I thought she'd ship me to the next open foster family but she took me home where Ben was already waiting. I had a hunch that he had been the one who pushed for Evelyn to find me.

"You're late," Ben teased as he leaned forward from his position on the couch. "Lux?"

When I hadn't responded Ben had gotten up and walked towards me gently placing his hands on my shoulders and jostling me, "Luxie?"

"Sorry," I murmured. "Just thinking."

"About?" Ben queried.

"Nothing good," I answered honestly.

Ben gave my shoulders a squeeze before he waved me into the house. Out of all of my brothers, Ben was the one who was use to me zoning out occasionally. It had been only three years since we had been rescued, which might've been the reason why things that happened in the here and now could trigger not so pleasant memories.

"Dinner!" Ma called.

Ben and I wandered in from the living room as the rest of the family came into the dining room from all corners of the house. It was a full house tonight with Sofi and Camille joining us for dinner. I hugged both Jerry and Camille before I sat down. Camille sat on my other side while Sofi sat close to Angel, which amusingly enough was close to Bobby.

Surprisingly enough Bobby didn't insult her, although, he did glare in her direction. I guess he felt bad for her since she had just found out about Angel joining the Marines and judging by Sofi's red-rimmed eye she hadn't taken the news very well. Jerry seemed to be okay with the news. I think we were all just taken by surprise, for one. As well as concerned for how dangerous this could be for Angel.

After dinner I helped Ma with the dishes before I wandered upstairs and collapsed on my bed. I yawned widely as I slid out of my shoes and socks and changed my jeans for cotton shorts before I fell asleep.

_I really hated restraints and I hated the fact that Meadow Brook thought that the only way to keep me safe was to tie me down to my bed. The hospital personnel checked in a few times a day to let me out and to give me my medication. Recently, I had been allowed out of the restraints more often so I thought maybe I'd get out of here sooner than I thought. I was falling asleep on that sorry excuse for a bed when my door opened._

"_This is Dorothea Nolan," Collin, the night watchmen said. I glanced up noticing that there was someone else in there with him. "She tried to kill herself. Her foster family told the doctors about these delusions she kept having about her foster father raping her."_

"_That's pretty heavy for a twelve year old," The new guy moved._

"_Yeah, she's one of the younger ones; been here for about a year now," Collin shook his head._

"_She's pretty, though," The new guy said. "Not like the other girls in this ward. I mean look at the way those lips curve. They'd look even prettier wrapped around my cock."_

_At that I sat up in bed and scurried to the corner of the wall, eyeing him distrustfully. Collin had been getting a little handsy lately. He was just like my foster father, Adam. He had been nice to until he raped me, that is._

"_Are you sure this will work?" The new guy asked. "We won't get caught."_

"_You kidding?" Collin laughed. "No one's gonna believe her. The doctors think there's something loose up there."_

"_Fuck you," I snarled._

"_You see the mouth on her?" Collin snickered. "Just don't hit her. We can't leave bruises."_

"_I think I can manage that," The new guy replied._

_Collin left a set of keys on the table before he wandered out of my room. I heard the door shut and turned my attention to the man who was still in the room. He shoved his pants down and off his legs standing before me in a pair of boxers as a sickening leer stretched across his face._

_The keys to my room were laying near the door. And I waited until he had started crawling up my bed before I launched off the cot and scrambling to grab the keys. I almost reached them when hands lifted me up and spun me around, pressing me against the wall._

"_I love a girl who fights," The man smirked. His breath smelled horrible and a few teeth had been replaced with gold. He reeked of sweat and alcohol. How could this place have hired him?_

_He placed me back on the bed climbing on top of me so I was pinned under him. I could feel his breath at the base of my neck and his fingers running through my hair as I squirmed and tried to get away._

"_You going to scream for me, princess?" The man asked. "Feel free. The lot o' you in this ward are a bunch of screamers. It won't bring any attention."_

_I wish I could say that I didn't scream. Didn't give the bastard the satisfaction of hearing my pain as he thrust into me, not caring to go slowly. I screamed loudly and I didn't stop screaming. _

"Lux!" Jerry called.

Without meaning to I shoved Jerry the remnants of the nightmare clinging stubbornly to the forefront of my mind. Suddenly the room was full of noise as two more people rushed forward keeping my arms from making contact with me or anything else.

"Lux, are you okay?" Jerry asked.

"Jerry?" I whimpered.

"Yeah, baby girl," Jerry replied. "We've been trying to wake you for the past five minutes."

I looked around and saw that all my brothers and Ma were in the room. It had been Angel and Bobby who had restrained me, allowing the remnants of the nightmare to run its course.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Every one of us is guilty of having nightmares, Luxie," Jerry responded brushing off my apology. "I remember Jack and Bobby having some really bad ones."

"The hospital dream again?" Ben wondered.

I nodded as I sat back down on my bed. I noticed that the others had glanced at Ben at his question. I hadn't really told them about 'the hospital dream' as Ben had dubbed it. Most of the time I didn't remember my dreams. Unfortunately the dream I just had was a recurring one.

I would later find out that my serial rapist and replacement night watchman was named Walter. I had come to the conclusion that I wasn't his only victim after all he had said that I lived in a ward with a bunch of screamers. No one would be able to differentiate between normal screams and screams for help. Or at least no one cared to try.

The only peace of mind I had was that Ma had believed my story and had gotten Walter locked away for life. But there were more like him in that place. Although, I guess one being locked up was better than none.

After the guys and Ma had made sure I was okay they left leaving Ben and I alone. It was normal operating procedure that Bobby, Jerry, Angel, and Jack didn't ask about my stint in a mental hospital and I returned the favor by not talking about any of their pasts. Sure, it came up from time to time, the lot of us knowing the bare minimum about each other's past horrors but none of us liked talking about those times.

The only person any of us actively talked about our past with was Ma. Evelyn was the perfect nurturing, mothering figure that the lot of us had been deprived of for so long. She cooked awesome food, offered unconditional love and support, and was a shoulder to cry on and a wall of comfort. She was also another person to have in your corner. She was the first one to argue with the principal and the district whenever any of us were accused of something we hadn't done.

The week flew by incredibly quickly and I just don't know how that can happen sometimes and then other weeks drag on. Like finals or midterms week for example. Those weeks feel like they'll never end. But the week before Angel was set to leave for basic training was the fastest of my life. School wasn't as obnoxious as it normally was and my brothers didn't bicker quite as much as they normally did. Hell, Bobby didn't even make a crack about Sofi the entire week. That in and of itself was shocking. Ben had asked if Bobby was sick to which Bobby replied with a smack upside the head. Ben had looked completely offended which had everyone laughing for at least five minutes.

And then today was the day. Everyone had woken up early to see Angel off. Well, nearly everyone except for Camille and Sofi. She and Angel had broken up last night. Sofi couldn't take the long distance thing After all, it would be at least a year before we all saw him again. They were incredibly strict on visitation during Basic training but Angel was allowed to call and write at least.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart," Ma told Angel giving him a hug. "I love you."

"You better not get killed, jar head," Bobby stated gruffly before he pulled Angel in for a one armed hug.

"Good luck, Angel," Jerry said as he hugged Angel.

"I'm going to miss your afro," Jack proclaimed seriously.

Angel chuffed before he grabbed Jack into a headlock and gave him a noogie. "I'm going to miss you too, Jackie Poo."

"Be careful, Ang," Ben mumbled.

"I will," Angel said as he gave Ben a hug.

I approached my older brother who looked like a totally different person wearing his fatigues with his recently cropped hair. He actually looked like a soldier. He looked more confident with himself and just seemed happier, if only slightly nervous.

"Baby girl," Angel whispered.

"I'm going to miss you Angel," I murmured. "You better take care of yourself."

Despite my best intentions, a few tears slipped through as Angel wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close.

"I'll call you as soon as I can," Angel responded. "You be good, Luxie."

"Psh, I'm always good," I snarked.

At that everyone began to laugh and as we all laughed the tension melted away. Everyone hugged Angel one more time before he had to board the bus with the other recruits. We waited in the parking lot with the other families watching as the bus drove away.

"Come on, guys," Ma called. "We should get back."

"I just have one question," Ben smirked causing our brothers to halt in their movements to go back to the two cars we had driven here. Jerry had bought a Volvo and Bobby still had the Oldsmobile.

"What's that?" Bobby replied.

"Who are you going to argue with now?" Ben grinned.

"Brat," Bobby retorted, shoving Ben ahead of him and in the direction of the cars.

"He has a point, Bobby," Jerry laughed.

"Shut up, Jerry," Bobby grumbled.

Despite our best efforts to make it feel like it was a normal day, we couldn't help but no it wasn't. The house just felt empty without Angel being there and I missed him already. At first it was weird not seeing Jerry every day but he lived close by and we normally saw him a few times a week anyway.

It was an indescribable feeling as Ben, Jack, and I worked out homework in relative silence. Change was in the air and that thought made me anxious. I knew that Bobby had been getting restless ever since he had been suspended from the Red Wings. Jack had just been going through the motions of school. He and his band were practicing more than ever and I heard whispers of the lot of them going to New York City to try and hit it big. I knew it would be sooner rather than later that it would be just Ma, Ben, and me. And after living with a bunch of loud brother for the better part of three years I didn't really want anything to change.


	4. Hands of Uncertainty

_**Author's Note: I would just like to apologize for when I said Lux was in a mental hospital. The correct term is Psychiatric Hospital. So, my bad and I hope I didn't offend anyone.**_

_**

* * *

**_**Chapter Four: Hands of Uncertainty**

Once we had gotten word that Angel was okay things went back to normal. Or as normal as it got for the Mercers. Jack, Ben, and I went to school while Ma, Jerry, and Bobby went to work. The weekends were full of music, parties, and a ton of homework. Jack's band had taken to practicing in our yard, which was fairly nice. They were pretty good and I enjoyed having music to listen to as I did my homework.

As a reward for doing well in the first marking period, Ma had let us go to the GM Renaissance Center. It was a local mall about a half hour away from the house. Bobby had dropped us off and we were going to take the bus back in a few hours.

"What stores?" Ben asked.

"I just wanna walk around," I replied.

"Don't you need new shoes?" Ben questioned.

"Yeah," I shrugged.

Ben shook his head as we walked off to the closest shoe store. I snagged the first pair of sneakers that I had found and liked. We wandered around stopping to buy some lunch and a few movies. Ben bought a few new video games and a new controller since Bobby had broke the other one.

We were walking towards the exit talking about what we had bought when Ben had accidently bumped elbows with another boy. In any other place there might've been a glare or a muttered curse at the person that bumped you. But not here.

"Watch where you're going, faggot," The boy spat.

Ben bristled at the derogatory statement turning slowly on his heel, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, fag," The boy grinned. "What? The faggot gonna cry?"

"Shut up, Randy," I growled.

I ignored the look Ben threw my way. While we had both never left Detroit in all the years we were separate it wasn't all that often that we ran into people from our pasts. I think that it's happened all of twice for me. I knew that we went to school with someone Ben knew, but they were actually friends.

"Lux Nolan," Randy McAllister grinned. "Damn, princess you grew up fine."

"It's Mercer now," I corrected. "And, by the way, if anyone's the 'faggot' it's you. What's wrong Randy you drop the soap in prison?"

"You've always been a loud-mouthed bitch," Randy growled "I'd tread carefully if I were you. Girl or not I'll hit you."

"Same here, sunshine," I smirked.

I knew Randy from one of the group homes that I had been put in before Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Gillette had agreed to foster me. That was before everything had happened back before I was really abused. I had always gotten into fights and scuffles. The sad thing was that Randy and I use to be friends until I had gotten fostered and he had gotten picked up on pretty bad drug charges.

"Whatever you say, princess," Randy rolled his eyes.

"_You going to scream for me, princess?" Walter asked._

I barely noticed that two other boys had come over to stand behind Randy as I lunged forward, tackling a boy who had nearly seventy pounds on me. I didn't even have to look up from the punches that I was throwing to know that Ben and I had moved instantaneously. Ben was probably fighting for numerous reasons. One, he was watching my back. Two, he detested anyone being made fun of especially with names like faggot or racial slurs. Three, all my brother's knew of my aversion to the pet name of princess. They all knew exactly why I didn't like it and they were just as quick to defend me if anyone dared call me princess. The reason Ben hadn't reacted as fast as he normally would've was because I had admitted to knowing Randy.

We weren't stupid both Ben and I knew that throwing down in the mall wasn't the smartest thing we ever could've done. But, I had seen red the second he kept calling me princess. The one moment where I felt like I was back in that one foot by ten feet room and I had lost whatever self control I had, resulting in me launching myself at someone who could easily out match me.

I was holding my own a lot better than any one else would normally thought. Anger stoked my swings, making my punches harder and kept me moving faster and dodging quicker. That didn't stop Randy landing a few good ones particularly the one that landed dead in my eye, which was going to black up nice. But, the rage allowed me to keep moving and I didn't stop until the rent-a-cops showed up knocking the lot of us to the ground and handcuffing us with clear zip ties because the mall police weren't outfitted with real handcuffs.

In the time it took for the real police to get there I looked around noticing that we had a lot of attention focused on us and there had been people screaming, which probably drew attention to the melee a lot quicker than if every one had just minded their damn business. I could hear the rent a cops bitching at the lot of us saying something about how they didn't know what was wrong with today's youth.

Within an hour's time the cops had rounded the lot of us up. I guess that Green had put in a call to the officers because Randy and his friends went to the second precinct while Ben and I were brought to the first precinct, which was closer to our house. It was also where Green's office was. The officer had so graciously cut off the zip ties only to handcuff both Ben and I to the interrogation table.

"You okay?" Ben asked once we were sure we were alone.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm sorry, Benny."

"Don't be," Ben replied. "Luxie, he was goading you. I would've kicked his ass but you got there first."

"One of those assholes seemed to have gotten you good," I grimaced.

"Yeah, pot…kettle," Ben grinned. "Your eye's beginning to black up."

Our conversation ceased as the interrogation's room door opened. Black dress shoes were the first thing we saw followed by the well-tailored suit that Lieutenant Darius Green enjoyed to wear.

"I was beginning to think the lot o' you reformed your ways," Green frowned. "It's been four months since a Mercer has been in here."

"That's why we decided to give you a two-for-one special," Ben grinned.

"Benny boy," Green greeted. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Guess I'm getting better then," Ben shrugged.

"How long has it been since the two o' you have been in here together?" Green wondered. "It has to have been at least a year or more."

"I suppose so," I responded.

"So, you two mind telling me why you thought it was a good idea to get into a knock-down, drag-them-out fight in the middle of the mall?" Green demanded forgoing the easygoing manner and switching to the stern Lieutenant.

"Self-defense," Ben stated.

"I don't think so, buddy," Green contradicted. "Security cameras caught the whole thing. Do you understand how serious this is if that kid presses charges?"

"We're handcuffed to a table," I noted sarcastically. "I think we gathered that."

"Besides if the security tape caught that then it also caught on to the fact that we didn't start it," Ben responded.

"You two sure as hell finished it though," Green growled. "Lux, you broke that kids nose."

Ben and I exchanged looks at that knowing our chances of coming out of this without any severe repercussions was going down the tubes. We just had to get into it at the mall. One of our more brilliant stunts, I had to say. But, nothing would happen if Randy didn't press charges, which he wouldn't. Kids around he preferred to settle things like this without the judicial system involved. 'Cause let's face it: if the foster care system sucks is the judicial system really gonna be any better? Yeah, I didn't think so.

"He called me princess," I blurted out.

"Bruising a little easy there don't you think, Luxie?" Green replied.

"That's what Walter Cohen called me every single time he raped me," I retorted.

"And the kid knew about it somehow," Ben said quickly. "He provoked Lux to attack and she did."

"We'll see what happens," Green said.

"Did you call Ma yet?" Ben asked.

"I called your house," Green replied. "Bobby was the one who answered."

I groaned at that as Ben squirmed uneasily; it just had to be Bobby. The guy who has a longer rap sheet then Ben and I combined. But the second either of us place a toe out of line, he gets pissed. Stupid double standard.

Green left us waiting in that stupid brightly lit, only white interrogation room god knows how long. I thought being in that room with that stupid clock was bad but at least my hands were only bound behind my back instead of being handcuffed around a table, that was bolted to the ground. I rolled my eyes skyward as Ben and I sat in silence. It was then that I had remembered that I had used a couple of bobby pins to get the flyaway pieces of hair away from my face. I brought my head down to the table so that my hands could find one. I smirked when I latched onto one, pulling it out of my hair before snapping it in half. I fooled around with the locking mechanism for a few minutes before I heard the tumblers catch as the handcuff sprang open. I did it faster to the other hand before I freed Ben from his.

"Thank god you wear those things," Ben smirked. "I was about to lose my fucking mind. Who handcuffs people to tables?"

"Asshole cops?" I shrugged. "At least I remembered I had a few of those pins otherwise who knows how long they would've left us chained up in here."

I must've jinxed the proceedings because seconds after I had said that the door flew open. I realized that they must've had these rooms soundproofed because we hadn't heard Bobby's dramatic entrance into the precinct until he had barreled into the room with four cops and Green on his tail. I looked at my oldest brother in confusion. His normally gelled hair was standing nearly on end, his clothing was rumpled, and his shoelaces were untied. I knew that the phone call hadn't woken him up it was only around nine at the most. The thing that was normal about Bobby, or at least a look that I had seen aimed countless times at Angel, Jack, Ben, and I. And that was his normally calm chocolate brown eyes were liquid pools of ire. This was definitely a look designed to kill or wish that you could suddenly melt into the floor to avoid that very gaze.

"Get the fuck of me!" Bobby yelled at one of the cops who moved to escort him from the room but Bobby had quickly shoved him off and away. He held his hands out but now he was looking firmly at Green. His tone became a little calmer and slightly respectful as he said, "Can I have a minute with my brother and sister?"

"Yeah, Bobby," Green replied. "Be easy, though. It wasn't all their fault."

Bobby and Green had once played hockey together and they had for a really long time. Thy use to be friends and still had a fair amount of respect for one another. But things changed when Green became a cop and quickly rose through the ranks. It was nice to have someone on the other side of the law on our side, though. The door shut behind Bobby and we were left alone, at least for the time being.

"I heard that a security camera caught your fight in all it's glory, that true?" Bobby asked as he sat down in the chair across from us.

"Yeah," Ben winced.

"Did you think about that at all before you attacked someone?" Bobby growled.

"He had it coming," I stated firmly.

"So, why don't you take it outside?" Bobby retorted. "Or did you like the idea of waiting until the mall was a half hour from closing to have that brawl?"

"He started it with us first," Ben replied. "He called me a faggot and Lux a princess. He called her princess a lot before she actually attacked him."

"You knew him?" Bobby sighed. It wasn't a question more of a statement of a fact that he had already realized.

"Yeah," I muttered. "We were in the same home before he got busted and I got put in a foster home."

"Speaking of home?" Ben grumbled. "Can we go?"

"We're not done talking about this," Bobby warned as he gestured for us to stand up. "And I'm pretty sure Ma will have something to say about this as well."

I had already guessed that we were grounded and I figured that Ma would be disappointed with us. That hurt almost as much as anyone of my foster father's punches ever had. I hated disappointing Ma especially after all she had done for us.

As Ben and I moved towards the door I noticed that Bobby was looking at the ground or more specifically where I had thrown the handcuffs and the broken pin I had used to pick them with. Bobby narrowed his eyes at me as I grinned back innocently. Obviously that look wasn't believed as Bobby slapped me upside the head pushing me out of the door and ushering the both of us towards the front of the precinct.

"Can I take them now?" Bobby asked.

When one of the cops moved to say something Green held up his hand and the cop shut his mouth. "Yeah, we'll call you if anyone ends up pressing charges."

"Fine," Bobby said.

We all walked to where Bobby's car was parked and got in to it with Ben and I climbing into the back seat.

"Hey, Bobby, can we go get food?" Ben asked. "I'm hungry and those stupid pigs didn't feed us."

"You'll get something at home," Bobby rolled his eyes.

I laughed as Ben pouted before shoving me in the shoulder for laughing at him. The Mercer home was bright and cheerful in the early January air. Our Christmas lights were still hanging up and our Christmas tree could be seen in the living room. It was still all decked out, which meant that the living room was currently my favorite place in the house. I loved Christmas where not even the crime and danger of Detroit could ruin the holiday spirit. It was almost as though there was an agreement that people wouldn't pull shit during the week of Christmas and into New Years.

As previously witnessed that agreement ended as soon as the old year did. It was the first few days into 2002 and we were still on Winter Vacation. Our report cards had come in a few days after Christmas and both Ben and I had landed on honor roll. Jack had done fairly well himself but he had friends with cars so they all could (and did) go to the mall whenever they wanted to.

Bobby, Ben, and I walked into the house where Ma was waiting in the kitchen. She had fixed some pasta and had already portioned the leftovers for us. She told us to take our plates and glasses of soda into the dining room. Bobby and Ma joined us a few minutes later each holding a cup of coffee as both sat down in their normal seats. Ma also had a bag of frozen peas in her hand, which she handed to me without a word. I placed it over my black eye, hoping that it wouldn't swell up too badly. I could still see out of it so that was good.

Ma pushed her cup slightly away from her as she folded her hands and rested them on the table. Her eyes were bright and understanding, "What happened?" was all she asked.

"This guy called Ben a faggot," I said.

"And he called Lux princess," Ben said.

Ma raised her eyebrow at that as she looked at me empathetically, "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

"I heard his voice, Ma," I confessed. "It felt like I was right back in that ward. I could feel his breath on my face, the screams of the other patients, and the smell of antiseptic. I flashed back and lashed out. I didn't snap out of it until he punched me in the eye."

As I told them what happened my gaze had slid from Ma to the table. My hair hung in my face shielding me from view.

"Hey," Ma reproached. "Luxie, look at me."

Her tone was comforting, injected with the right amount of sternness to get me to listen what she had said. It was an art that Bobby hadn't perfected or any of the foster parents I ran through before I was institutionalized. I raised my head and met her eyes, hazel meeting blue in a look that showed nothing but love, patience, and compassion.

"I know a lot of horrible things happened to you, Lux," Ma continued. "But, you're safe now."

Ben had long since stopped eating choosing and he had the moment I started explaining how the fight started. He reached over and squeezed my hand before letting go. We both shared a lot of regrets, the biggest of which was for being separated for as long as we had been. It was during that time period where both of us had been hurt irreparably. When you experience hurt like that the scars don't fade but new and better memories could reduce the ache that the memories of the past had created.

Just because Ben and I were biologically related didn't make me love him more than any of my other brothers. We were all a family blood or not. I had looked at Bobby and noticed that his eyes had softened but his mouth was still set in a tight line. He wasn't angry with me, though. He hated hearing about any one of our pasts. It was the only thing that he couldn't protect us from and it bothered him to no end.

"I can't really fault either of you if you were provoked," Ma said mulling over what had happened and our explanations of why it had. "Ben, I am proud of you for protecting your sister. And, Lux, I understand why you got into the fight. All that aside, however, I think you both will be grounded until school starts back up. No phones or friends over or going out."

That wasn't the worse punishment Ma had ever come up with. It was fairly tame what with school starting back up in four days. No phones was uncomfortable but not unbearable. By the sparkling of Ma's eyes she knew what she had done. Ma could be stern about a lot of things and it wasn't like she let us curse, and fight, and wander around at all hours of the night. But, if we had a good explanation for why it happened she felt no need to punish us. She also didn't really like us cursing. I mean Ma let us often enough and now that three of us were in their twenties she didn't curb her language either. It depended on the situation we could say it when we were talking or bantering with each other but the second it was used in seriousness or to get under someone's skin, she didn't like it.

"Go on eat, you two, before it gets cold," Ma prodded.

**Four Days Later**

The sad thing about Winter Break was that it never felt like we had left school. Nothing had changed. The metal detectors were still annoying, making it so that if you were running late to school, you were going to be incredibly late. Especially if one of the security guards felt like being douche bags, which, oddly enough, they usually did.

I had gone from a relaxing break filled with very little responsibility and work to having three papers and four midterms. Yeah, this was the life of an honors student in Cass Technical High School. Or just a student in general, Ben and Jack weren't having an easier time. Jack was probably worse off than us since he would be graduating in a few short months. The only nice thing about midterms was that as they were going on we only had half days. If you didn't have a midterm on one of the days you were allowed to not go to school. Midterms normally lasted a week but my classes had managed to have two a day. And since I only had four, I would only have to be in school for two days this week.

With AP Calculus and European History out of the way, I was ecstatic by the end of the day. Those were my two hardest classes and while it was annoying that they were on the same day, it could've been worse. I walked home in a really good mood and when I walked through the front door Ma and Bobby were there to greet me.

"Luxie," Ma smiled giving me a hug. "How did your midterms go?"

"I think they went really well, Ma," I replied, hugging her back.

"Good," Bobby laughed. "Someone has to be the smart one in this family."

"You are very bright yourself, Bobby," Ma contradicted. "Don't sell yourself short. Do you want some tomato soup, honey?"

"Yes, please," I smiled.

"Go and sit down and I'll bring you a bowl," Ma ordered.

Before I could say that she didn't have to get it for me she wandered into a kitchen and doled out some soup. I sat down in my normal place at the table and thanked Ma when she brought out the bowl and a can of Sprite. After I finished eating I cleaned my bowl and recycled the can of Sprite before wandering into the Living Room. I ended up playing video games with Bobby for a few hours before Ben burst through the door, slamming it behind him.

My twin senses immediately stood on edge as Ben threw his backpack next to mine before rushing up the stairs without saying hello to anyone. Seconds later our room door slammed shut before Metallica began to blare out of the boom box.

"Benny!" Bobby shouted.

I tossed down the controller as I followed up after my twin. I frowned when I tried to come into the room. The door was locked and the doors were never supposed to be locked. If Ma or Bobby found out about this we would most likely lose the entire door and I, for one, valued my privacy. I pulled out another hairpin and quickly unlocked the door and walked in.

"Leave me alone, Lux," Ben growled.

His eyes had been glaring at me from the second I had opened the door. He was on his bed, his legs out in front of him and his arms crossed angrily.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'm just tired," Ben replied. "I'm tired of school. I'm tired of Detroit. I'm tired of being tossed into Special Ed classes."

"Midterms didn't go well?" I sighed.

"No, not at all," Ben scoffed. "But why should I be surprised."

"Don't say that, Ben," I protested. "You're smart."

"What would you know about any of it, Luxie?" Ben retorted. "You're the smart one."

"Yeah and that's better," I snapped. "I'm the 'smart' one. I'm not supposed to be like any of you. I'm supposed to be the one to go to college and be the good little girl."

"No one thinks that," Ben protested. "You can do whatever you want to. Who gives a shit about any one else?"

"Exactly," I responded.

"You're a sneaky little brat, you know that?" Ben shook his head.

"Yeah," I grinned. "I figured that out a while ago."

Ben rolled his eyes and shook his head. He turned the music down but continued to lay on his bed. I was studying for my English lit midterm when I heard the doorbell ring. It wasn't often that we got visitors to the Mercer house. I waved at Ben to turn the music off so we could hear what was going on.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"Is Lux here?" I heard someone ask.

"Who wants to know?" Bobby demanded.

"My name is Theo, I'm in one of Lux's classes," Theo said. "I just wanted to ask her a question."

"Yeah, and that's why you're here?" Bobby laughed. "Bullshit, man."

I got off my bed and walked down stairs where Bobby was still giving Theo the third degree.

"Bobby," I growled.

"What?" Bobby snickered. "He tells me he's here for school. You might be a bookworm, Luxie, but that's bullshit. He didn't even bring a backpack."

"I figured you wouldn't let me in the door if I just said that I wanted to go out with your sister," Theo shrugged.

"You'd be right," Bobby stated.

"Bobby, we've talked about this and you said you'd let me date."

"Let the boy in," Ma said coming down the stairs from her room.

"Thank you, ma'am," Theo smiled.

"You said he had to meet the family," I shrugged. "Theo, this is my brother Bobby and my mother. You already know Ben."

Ben had come out of our room and was standing a the top of the stairs. I watched as Bobby looked Theo up and down, looking for something before he finally said, "You hurt her, and I'll break every bone in your body."

"I think that would be fair," Theo said. "Would you like to go out this weekend, Lux?"

"Sure," I replied.

"Great," Theo grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lux."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" I asked.

"Nah," Theo replied. "I'll see you in English."

Theo smiled at me before walking back out the door. Bobby looked at Theo's retreating back and then at me before scoffing under his breathe and walking away. I turned to look at Ben who seemed confused before he walked down the rest of the stairs and into the living room.

"How did he know where we live?" Ben asked.

"How am I supposed to know," I responded. "I never told him."

"That isn't creepy at all," Been snickered.

"Whatever," I shook my head plopping down on the couch.

"Nice comeback, Luxie," Ben teased. "I'm reeling."

"Bite me," I growled back catching the game controller that was lobbed at my head. As Ben switched turned on the play station.

"Again, wow," Ben laughed.

I scowled at him before beginning to play one of the need for speed games. Bobby offered his tips for the game to help me win a few times. Nearly an hour later Jackie came back, right around the same time that Bobby had to leave to work the nightshift as a bouncer for a local bar.

The rest of the week passed by with little incident as Jack, Ben, and I wrapped up our midterms. Ben did better than he thought he did, none of us getting below a C on any of our tests. Ma was thrilled.

I really should've seen it coming. Angel left Detroit first, and was rising quickly through the ranks of military command. He really seemed to have found his niche. The next few weeks brought nicer weather, and a letter from the Red Wings. I handed it to Bobby as I brought the mail into the kitchen. When I heard a loud expletive, quickly followed by a string of others. Bobby had been cut from the team for excessive violence, apparently his must recent suspension was one to many.

With the Red Wings no longer in the picture, it became obvious that Bobby wasn't going to be sticking around too much longer. The next week, Bobby had packed up his beater, said a quick goodbye to all of us and left. He either had no clue where he was going or wasn't telling us anything. Ma seemed sad that another bird had flown the coop and that she didn't know where said bird was going. But if there was one thing Ma had was trust and faith that we could be successful out there in the real world. Bobby called at least once a week but made no mention of where he was.

Nearly two weeks after Bobby left, Theo and I had decided to start dating exclusively after I had made sure that it was okay with Ben. It wasn't really asking permission it was more of a is-this-gonna-cause-problems thing. Because I didn't need my brother trying to break my boyfriend's face at any given opportunity.

While Jackie wasn't going to college his social life blew up right after prom, where there seemed to be parties, nearly every single weekend. If there wasn't a party, the Spares had a gig. The last few months of school had felt like non-stop work, it was completely insane. Luckily, summer was right around the corner.

Ma was glowing on the day of Jack's graduation. Bobby had come back from where ever he had been. Jerry and Camille along with their two daughters: Daniela and Amelia also come to show their support for Jack. Every one was dressed up as we waited for the soon to be high school graduate.

"Jackie, honey, come on!" Ma coaxed. "You're going o be late.

"This stupid cap won't stay on," Jack complained, scowling angrily at his graduation cap.

"It has no place to go with all that hair," Bobby teased.

"Not everyone can be like a Chia pet with only mud on it," Jack retorted causing Ben and I to chortle as Bobby's eyebrows raised in surprise.

Someone began to knock on the door causing all of us to turn towards it in confusion.

"No way!" I whooped swinging open the door and leaping into waiting arms.

"Luxie," Angel grinned. "It's good to see you."

"Well, look at that," Bobby grinned as he hugged Angel, "Jar head's looking all cleaned up."

"At least I don't look like a seventh grader at his first dance," Angel shrugged giving Jerry and Camille, and their daughters a hug.

"What is this?" Bobby grumbled. "Rag on Bobby day?"

"I thought that was everyday?" I smiled.

"Cute," Bobby smirked as I grinned at him.

"Congratulations, Jackie," Angel said after he had given Ma and Ben a hug.

"Thanks, Ang," Jack smiled. "You came back for my graduation?"

"Like I'd miss it," Angel responded. "Aren't y'all running late?"

"Fairy boy's tiara didn't fit," Bobby said.

"Come on, guys," Ma laughed ushering us out of the house and to the cars.

When we got to school, Jack splintered off from the rest of us running to join his fellow classmates. We walked around the back towards the bleachers getting a nice spot on the center bench. We cheered as the graduates began to walk to the music, filing into the chairs that had been set up on the football field. The superintendant for the district spoke, followed by the principals, the class president, and the valedictorian. After that the names began to be called and that lasted for a while.

"Jack Andrew Mercer," The principal read.

"Woo!" we all cheered. "Go Jackie!"

Jack beamed out at the audience as he took the diploma that the principal offered and filed back to his seat. After a lot more names the principal finally said, "I present to you the graduating class of 2002!"

The graduates tossed their caps and the everyone stood up and cheered. They let the crowd onto the field as we swarmed around Jackie smiling and laughing as he held out his diploma. Ma had tears in her eyes as she hugged Jack. We all congratulated him again and chattering happily as Jack's friends and band mates came to hug and take pictures.

* * *

_**Author's Note Part Two: The next chapter will be slightly pre-movie. Like the week before the movie begins. I just wanted this to be a heads up. :-)**_


	5. Hanging by a Thread

**Chapter Five: Hanging by a Thread**

**Two and a half years later (Lux's Point of View)**

Sometimes it still shocked me that I was in college. And it wasn't just college it was the fourth oldest university in the country. It was Ivy League and I got in and not only did I get in but I got a full ride. Me, an ex-psychiatric patient, abuse victim, and a criminal. I had managed to get into nearly every school. I didn't apply to any schools in Detroit and Ma and I had talked long about what I wanted out of my college experience. Eventually we had decided that University of Pennsylvania was the best. It was located smack in the middle of Philadelphia and shared spaces with Drexel University a lot of the time.

I think one of the best things that had happened in high school was our graduation. Mostly because after all odds and doubts that I would ever be a good student because my last name happened to be Mercer, I had gotten Valedictorian. Ben had placed in the top thirty of our class and in a class of nearly four hundred people, which was really impressive. Ma was glowing when she found out and Bobby, Jerry, Angel, and Jack thought it was awesome that I was at the top of my class and still managed to get into trouble just as much as they had.

Ben didn't want to go to school, he didn't apply anywhere and I understood that. Ben hated school, why would he ever go when he had to pay for it? Instead he came with me from Philly, one of Bobby's friends from hockey owned a pretty big auto shop and offered Ben a spot. It was Ben, Annabel, Luke, Theo, and I sharing an apartment. That is was one of the better things that UPenn had. We weren't required to dorm in their housing after freshmen year so we had gotten an apartment close to UPenn, where Anna and I went and Drexel where Luke and Theo went.

The apartment wasn't anything fancy but it was what the five of us could afford. We all had odd jobs to make the rent on time. It was a two-bedroom apartment with a rather large living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Ben and Annabel had one of the bedrooms, while Theo and I had the other. Luke got the comfortable pull out couch that was more often than not a bed. It was just like a mattress only it would fold in half to create a couch so that we could all watch television at night.

Annabel, Luke, Theo, and I were in the first semester of our junior year and things had started to become really stressful, really fast. I didn't know what I was thinking being a biochemistry and history double major. Things had been insane ever since the middle of sophomore year. But, then things changed. My friend Courtney, who was equally if not more stressed out then me did a complete character change one-eighty and started getting really good grades, was in extremely good moods and was able to study for hours and hours. After weeks of badgering her, she finally folded. It turned out that she took Adderall. It was normally a prescription for ADHD, but if it was taken by one who didn't have ADHD then it was like speed.

Most circles called it a 'study drug'. With Adderall you could use it to focus your energy and concentration to a much higher level than normal. You could focus and stay awake for hours without getting the least bit tired. When I first tried it, I was amazed. I had seven different papers due within a course of a week and I had no idea how I could finish all of them on time until I took that one little pill. Each paper had to be at least fifteen pages, with ten different points of reference. I wrote them all back to back without coming up for air once.

After that I continued to use it to give me the edge I needed to stay on top of my two jobs (waiting tables and pharmacy clerk), my eighteen-credit class load, and all the other things I had to do over the course of the day. I only used during the school year, I never took any on breaks or during the summer. So, most of my brothers and Ma didn't seem to know about my new habit. But, Ben was getting suspicious.

Adderall had a few side affects most of which was weight loss and I didn't really have all that much to lose. I think it was when I was cramming; I was so focused on work or sleeping that I'd skip meals inadvertently. Each semester seemed to get harder and more difficult but it was worth it. This semester I was taking a 300 level Chemistry class along with Biophysics and Biochemistry. I was also taking Renaissance European History and Late Imperial China. Right now the semester was fun, the lab work was intense but it was interesting. I had knocked out all the general requirements, which meant I could finally take the classes that I wanted to take.

"The D'Medici family of Florence was very important to the Renaissance," Professor Davidson began the last class before Thanksgiving break. "Can you tell me why, Ms. Mercer?"

"The Medici's were a very influential family," I began. "They capitalized in the banking industry in Florence, they were also able to use trading to their advantage using the populous city for whatever suited their means. They married French and English royalty, thereby extending their power. They also had papal authority. Leo X, Leo XI, and Clement VII were all Medici. In addition to that they poured money into the art movement and had paid many well known artists Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, just to name a few."

"Very good, Ms. Mercer," Professor Davidson praised. "Someone's been reading ahead."

The rest of class passed by as the professor continued to lecture. In honor of the looming break, he let us out early. I packed up my messenger bag with my notebook and pens before walking down the stairs leading out of the lecture hall.

The entire mood of the university was cheerful as people packed up to go home and had been the entire week. Unfortunately we only got off a few days before Thanksgiving. At least it wasn't the day before Thanksgiving like many other schools. That turned traveling into a giant clusterfuck. Instead, I was ducking out of my night class in order to pack and drive home. It had been awhile since I saw Ma or my other brothers. I had chosen to take some summer classes and an internship, leaving me with a smaller breaks than I would otherwise have.

I moved quickly through Philadelphia and smiled as people from my classes waved at me. I pulled out my apartment keys and went through the door running up a few flights of stairs before I got to the room. I unlocked the door and quickly looked it behind me. It was unusually quiet, not that I wasn't suspecting that. The rest of the guys had left early this morning in Theo's escalade, leaving me with suburu impreza that Ben and I had bought a little less than a year ago.

I packed up a duffel bag and changed in a more comfortable pair of jeans and a UPenn sweatshirt. I pulled out my black collared coat and put it on. It cinched at the waist and went down to my knees with two pockets near my hips. At the last moment, I grabbed my schoolbag, laptop (school-issued) and a full bottle of Adderall. I threw my stuff in the back and hopped into the driver's seat. It was at least a nine-hour drive to Detroit from Philly, which meant I would be arriving around eight or so.

As it would turn out that's exactly what happened. I hit barely any traffic and even with a few rest stops, pausing to eat and go to the bathroom, I had made good time. I parked out front of the house, surprised when the door opened and Ma stepped outside with the keys to the mini van in her hand.

"Ma?" I called.

"Lux!" Ma smiled. "Baby, it's so good to see you."

I closed and locked the doors to the car leaving my duffel bag where it was as I moved quickly across the yard and into Ma's waiting arms.

"It's good to see you, Ma," I whispered hugging her tightly. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, my little scientist," Ma grinned. "How's school?"

"It's going great," I said. "I can finally take the classes I want to but its good o be home."

"It'll be good to have a full house again," Ma replied. "You should see how big the girl's are."

"They're four and three, right?" I asked.

"Yes and growing like weeds," Ma laughed. "I was on my way to the store to get a turkey before the rush hits. Want to come? We'll catch up on the way."

"Sure," I agreed.

I hopped into the passenger seat of the van grinning at the pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror. Ma and I talked about her recent cases, how Daniela and Amelia were both talking now and walking, how my internship went, and everything in between.

It wasn't that much of a drive to the local corner store. I smiled at Samir, the owner's son as Ma and him struck up friendly conversation. I was surprised by how happy I was to be home. Sure, the place was a shithole and there were a lot of unhappy memories here but thanks to Ma and the rest of the family there were a lot more good then bad these days.

A younger boy, maybe in his early teens slunk into the store and quickly grabbed a candy bar before moving around to the rest of the store. I knew that the boy had no intention of paying for that candy bar and I felt for him. He probably didn't have enough money to buy it and was hungry. Sadly, the boy chose the wrong store. Ma had noticed, not much got by her even if she was sixty-two years old now. The woman was sharp and as the conversation between her and Samir drifted into silence, I knew that she was about to call that kid out.

"Excuse me, Darnell," Ma called. "C'mere a moment."

"Hi, Ms. Evelyn," Darnell smiled

"So, let me guess, the candy bar just happened to jump into your pocket, huh? Ma asked. She pulled the offending candy bar out of his pocket and raised her eyebrow at the boy, daring him to lie to her.

At his deer-in-the-headlights look, Ma clucked her tongue, "I didn't think so. Samir's gonna call the police now."

"But, I…"

"Samir, the police," Ma interrupted.

As the boy turned to look at Samir, Ma shook her hands telling him not to really call the cops.

"Hello, police?" Samir said.

"Please, don't call the police," Darnell pleaded. "Please."

"I'll hold," Samir sighed.

"That's what happens when you shoplift," Ma lectured. "There's consequences."

"But, its just some damn candy," Darnell protested. "I don't wanna go to jail."

"Well, you can probably get away with stealing sometimes," Ma scolded. "But, sooner or later you're going to get caught. Is that the way you wanna lead your life, Darnell, huh?"

"No," Darnell whispered.

"I happen to believe that you're worth more," Ma stated sharply. "But you have to believe it."

"I hear you, Ms. Evelyn," Darnell replied.

"You bullshitting me?" Ma growled.

"No, ma'am," Darnell said.

"Well, you better not be, you hear me?" Ma demanded.

"Yes, ma'am," Darnell nodded.

"Okay," Ma soothed. "Now you tell Samir."

"I won't steal anymore, sir," Darnell responded.

"It's all right," Samir smiled.

"Boy, did you get lucky," Ma whistled. "Now, I want you to go straight home, you hear me? You shouldn't be out at this time of night anyway. Go on, get."

"Thank you, Ms. Evelyn," Darnell grinned before rushing out of the store.

I wandered over to the display next to the turkey's reading the papers that had been put up advertising local goings on.

"You handled that just beautifully," Ma praised. "You know, he's a good kid. He just needs an older brother."

Ma walked over to where the turkey's were kept saying, "Now let's take a look at these Thanksgiving birds. Oh, nice and plump."

Before Samir could say anything the door slammed open.

"Yo Osama! Osama!" A masked man shouted. "Get behind the register now!"

My eyes widened as I grabbed Ma's coat and pulled her down next to me. We were crouched down near one of the shelves, leaning against it. I watched through the reflective mirror as two men with shotgun's held Samir at gunpoint. I reached into my pocket for my butterfly knife and opened it. Ma caught sight of it and frowned for a moment. She didn't like us having weapons but understood that we needed to protect ourselves. Still a gun beat a knife and we were still in danger. Unless the goons left after taking the money.

"Shut the fuck up!" One man roared over Samir's babbling of, 'don't hurt me. Take it all."

I want no trouble, sir," Samir whimpered.

"This is America, homeboy," The other one barked. "Black people don't get what they want in this country, why should you?"

Samir never got a chance to respond as they shot him twice in the chest. I watched Samir's body get thrown into the cigarette display behind the counter before his body fell lifeless to the floor. Ma let out a low whimper and then turned to me with terrified eyes. They were coming down the aisle. They'd heard Ma. Oh, god.

"Now, now, now," One smirked. "What do we have here? Another foreigner? Arabs, Russians, Mexicans. You wanna play hide and seek? Wanna play games with me?"

"I've lived most of my life here," Ma growled rising to her feet as she glared at the boy with the bandana over his face. She moved me behind her and I stood my ground shielding her from the man with the gun.

"I don't care where you're from," The man laughed. "You playing games with me? I gotta game for you. It's called Russian Roulette!"

Ma gasped as he pointed the gun in her face, moving shaking hands over her mouth. He pulled the trigger but that one was empty. He placed his finger over the trigger again when I lunged with the knife, stabbing him in the shoulder.

"Ah!" The man yelped grabbing me around the neck and tossing me away. He pulled the knife out of his shoulder and pulled me back to my feet. He pulled me into his chest as he held my knife to my throat."

"Man, quit fucking around," The other one barked raising his shotgun in Ma's directions. She locked eyes with me as she backed up.

"Don't you dare!" I howled. "I'll kill you, I swear to god!"

"Quiet, princess," The one holding me mocked, trailing the knife down my cheek causing some blood to bubble to the surface.

"May god forgive you and save your souls," Ma said.

I fought against the iron hold as the other man squeezed the trigger twice. She mouthed, "I love you" as the first buckshot fired quickly followed by the other one. She feel to the ground and didn't move.

"NO!" I sobbed.

"Whoa, easy, sweetheart," The man holding me mocked pulling me away from him and holding me against the wall. "You're quite the little fighter."

"She isn't why we're here," The one who shot Ma growled. "We gotta get outta here someone would've heard the gunshots."

"Night night princess," The other one taunted before pistol-whipping me across the face, knocking me unconscious instantly.

**Ben's Point of View**

I was pacing back and forth in the foyer nervously. Ma and Lux had gone to the store nearly three hours ago and they still weren't back yet. Finally the phone began to ring and I snagged it as quickly as I could.

"Mercer residence," I stated.

"Ben, it's Lieutenant Green," Green said.

"Green?" I repeated. "What's going on?"

"There was an incident at the store your mother and sister were at," Green began.

"Are they alright?" I demanded.

I heard Green sigh over the line and he waited for an instant, "Your mother didn't make it."

"Where?" I growled.

"What?" Green asked.

"Where are they?" I yelled.

"The corner of Asher and Compton," Green sighed. "Ben, don't do anything stupid."

I hung up the phone and shrugged into my coat and slammed the door shut as I ran down the stairs. I grabbed the extra set of keys that we had taped to the bottom of the Subaru. I gunned the engine, pealing out of the street and speeding to the store. I slammed behind the mini van immediately noticing Jerry's Volvo across the street as I ducked under caution tape and sprinted towards the one ambulance on the scene.

I couldn't think that Ma was dead. She couldn't be. My heart lurched to a stop as I saw Lux sitting on the floor of the open ambulance, a blue blanket over her shoulder. Her eyes were glazed over. There was a nice bruise on her cheekbone and a small cut near her jaw. Jerry was standing in front of her, trying to talk to her but she didn't move an inch. Not when he touched her shoulder, or the EMT shined a small flashlight in her eyes and cleaned out the cut.

"Lux!" Jerry called.

"Sir, she's in shock," The EMT said.

"Benny," Jerry turned looking towards where I stood. "Oh, Ben."

"Jerry," I whispered. "Is it…is…is Ma dead?"

Tears sprang into Jerry's eyes as he nodded slowly. My knees went weak as my stomach flipped. I didn't know whether I was going to start sobbing, throw up, or faint. As I was trying to decide Jerry closed the distance between as and wrapped his arms around me tightly. I was twenty-one years old but that didn't stop be from burying my face into Jerry's neck and sobbing. Jerry's hold tightened as I felt him start to cry, until it wasn't clear who was comforting whom. The other officers milling around gave us our space as we continued to cry. I didn't know how long we stood there in the cold night and I frankly didn't care. Ma was dead and it was something I'd never thought would happen even if she was in her sixties now. When our crying slowed down to the occasional sniffle Jerry and I pulled apart. I wiped my face with the corner of my sleeve as Green approached us.

"I'm so sorry, you guys," Green said. "This never should've happened. Not to her."

"Mr. Mercer, we would like to take your sister to the hospital," The EMT asked. "Would that be alright? She's still unresponsive."

"No!" Lux snapped. "It wouldn't."

The EMT jumped in surprise as my sister tossed the blanket off her shoulders and glared angrily at the man. She hopped out of the ambulance and walked over to us being very careful not to make eye contact with anyone or look in the direction of the store.

"I called Bobby, Angel, and Jack," Jerry whispered to me as we drove home.

Jerry had chosen to get into our car and we drove back home. I thought that it had to do with him wanting to make sure Lux and I were alright. But, how could we after what happened? Especially Lux. She had seen Ma die.

I couldn't even imagine what she was going through, and I knew not even to attempt to ask. After she had snapped at the EMT, she shut back down, the glazed look going back to her eyes.

I had only seen her look like that once before. She had been in a catatonic state after Ma had gotten her out of that Psychiatric hospital. Of course we hugged but as I told her what I had been through I expected her to reciprocate, but she just shut down. Wouldn't move unless Bobby carried her to our room or to the living room. She didn't eat, didn't talk, she didn't do a thing. Then she snapped out of it, my guess Ma had gotten to her somehow but still seeing Lux then and in her now scared the crap out of me. Because Ma wasn't here to fix everything anymore.

"Come on, Luxie," Jerry coaxed. "I'm sure you're tired."

We walked through the threshold of the front door and things just felt different. It was almost as though the house knew what happened and was mourning Ma just like the rest of us. Jerry and I helped Lux into her bed, slipping off her shoes as she rolled over and curled into a ball without even attempting to go under the covers. I pulled the comforter out from under her and covered her with it. I touched her shoulder as I walked back to the door, turning the light off as I moved to go back downstairs.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

Jerry had been sitting on the couch, looking down at his hands. He jumped when I tapped his shoulder and repeated. "What are we going to do?"

"Jack and Bobby will be her tomorrow," Jerry said. "And we can have the funeral the day after."

"We're going to have a funeral the day before Thanksgiving?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jerry nodded. "Ben, nearly everyone in this city is going to come."

"Alright," I shrugged.

You should go to bed, Benny," Jerry suggested.

"I'm not tired," I replied.

"But, you are exhausted," Jerry pointed out firmly, "Go on up to bed."

"I'm twenty one years old, Jeremiah," I growled. "I don't need someone to give me a bed time anymore."

"Yeah, and you're old enough to know the people you aren't supposed to be disrespectful towards," Jerry scolded. "Go on up to bed. Bobby, will be here by the time you wake up. And he's definitely not the one to be giving the attitude towards either."

"Okay," I relented. "Fine. Night Jerry."

"Night Ben," Jerry replied.

I walked back up to the bedroom and crawled into my bed as I toed off my shoes and slid out of my jeans. I turned towards the wall and willed myself to just go to sleep. I don't know how long it took but I finally fell asleep only to be woken up by the slam of the front door and the thud of boots walking around. Bobby was home. My eldest brother had ran up the stairs and threw open our door.

"Ben," Bobby greeted.

"Hi, Bobby," I replied.

I got up unsurprised when Bobby grabbed me into a tight hug. When we pulled away I saw tears glistening in Bobby's eyes and new that I was on the brink of crying again as well.

"Luxie," Bobby called softly, sitting down on Lux's bed and nudging her hip.

"She's hasn't talked since last night," I informed Bobby.

"I know," Bobby sighed. "Jerry told me. Come on, baby girl. I know you're awake."

Despite Bobby's coaxing, Lux didn't move an inch. She wasn't ignoring him but Bobby's eyes darkened for a second anyway. Finally he reached a conclusion and pulled the covers back. He slid an arm under her shoulders and her knees before standing up. Most of the time Lux would turn and wrap her arms around his neck to stabilize herself. This time her arms just hung down at her sides.

"It's going to be okay, Luxie," Bobby whispered. "Your big brother's going to fix this."

I knew exactly what Bobby meant by 'fix this' as I followed him down the stairs and back into the living room. He placed her gently on the couch not even flinching as her head hung down low, her chin touching her chest as she starred at nothing. Bobby placed his fingers under her chin and picked her head up. He looked at her face, running a hand over her bruised cheek. The cuts had scabbed over in the night but they both looked angry and red as if she had been scratching at them all night.

"Ben, can I talk to you in the kitchen?" Bobby asked.

I nodded walking into the kitchen here Bobby pulled me further away from the living room.

"Has she cried?" Bobby asked.

"No," I shook my head. "The EMT's found her unconscious and when she woke up she didn't say or make a sound."

"Jesus," Bobby hissed. "Ben, we're going to get the people who did this. You have my word."

I nodded again as Bobby clapped me on the back before going back to the living room. The television was on but no one was really watching it. Lux hadn't moved from where Bobby had placed her. She didn't flinch when the TV got to loud or the neighborhood kids started to yell. It was another few hours until Jerry came back with Angel and Jack in tow.

"Hey Angel," I greeted as I gave him a hug. "Hi Jack."

"Hey Ben," They both said.

Everyone exchanged hello or at least Bobby did. After Bobby had said hello and asked how they were both Angel and Jack looked Lux's way and frowned. Lux was oblivious to what had happened.

"Come on, let's go get something for dinner," Bobby said. "Chinese food?"

"Yeah," Jerry, Jack, and I agreed.

Bobby nodded going into the kitchen to place the call. Angel, Jack, and Jerry followed on his heels. I looked back towards Lux before I walked in after them. We all talked and caught up. No one really mentioning Ma or what had happened. We were all still in denial. What had happened was too horrible, too cruel to happen to Ma. Jack was about to say something when I heard muttering in the next room. I whipped my head around to find Lux, head still hung, rocking back and forth muttering under her breath.

I moved from the kitchen to in front of Lux trying to hear what she was saying.

"May god forgive you and save your souls," Lux mumbled. "May God forgive you and save your souls. May God forgive you and save your souls."

Over and over she said the same thing in rapid fire. Never pausing or breaking from that one sentence. My hair stood on end as I stared at my sister. Was that the last thing Ma had said? It would make sense

"Bobby!" I called.

"What's wrong?" Bobby asked.

I gestured over to Lux and moved out of the way as Bobby leaned towards her.

"May God forgive you and save your souls," Lux muttered over and over.

"Lux," Bobby called. "Hey, Luxie. Look at me."

Lux didn't look at Bobby but she did stop saying that. Bobby grumbled something under his breath as he put his hand under her chin forcing her to meet his eyes. "What happened to Ma is not your fault."

She didn't move, didn't even flinch, causing Bobby to sigh before he let her go and stood back up. We out the Chinese food in silence, ignoring the fact that Lux didn't even glance at hers. The mood was the complete opposite of what it could've been if we were all just home for Thanksgiving. Instead, we were home for a funeral. Ma had been shot, Lux was unresponsive, and I wanted revenge for the people who did this to our family.

The next morning came far too quickly and if I thought the atmosphere the day before had been depressing, I hadn't seen anything yet. No one said a word as we all got ready. Ma would've been proud if she was still here. We were all getting dressed up without a word of complaint. Granted everything that had once been bothersome now seemed so trivial. I straightened my tie as I pulled on my black blazer.

I walked down the stairs where the rest of the of the family was waiting. Angel had worn his dress uniform and it was pretty shocking to see him dressed to the nines as a marine. He was a general for his platoon and for the moment had been stated in California. Bobby and Jerry were dressed in normal black suits. Lux was sitting on the couch dressed in a black lace dress with black leggings and a simple pair of heels. Her hair was tied up in a twist with her hair up you could see the small platinum earrings that wrapped all the way her ear on either side.

She got up when I came down the stairs sliding into her coat and wrapping it around herself. This was the first time since Ma died where I saw Lux moving on her own accord. She had yet to speak or smile but at least she was now making eye contact, which was an improvement at least. The drive to the church was a silent one and even though it was beginning to snow, the service was held outside. Ma loved winter and the snow, so this seemed fitting.

We all filed into the only seats there were and sat down. Ma's coffin was covered in flowers and a picture of her was next to the flowers. As Jerry had predicted the city had shown up in force, coming to pay their respects to the nicest person to ever lived in this city.

"Evelyn Mercer gave more and asked less than anyone I ever met," The priest began. "And yet, despite her kindness, the grimmest of all tragedies has been enacted. The worst has occurred. It is written in the book of Joel, that there will be a reckoning when the men who committed this cowardly act will be called forward by he who sits in judgment. A day when all that is hidden will appear and no sins of man will go unpunished. On this day, the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood. On this day even the just shall tremble."

"Amen," Bobby aid.

"Now, Evelyn's son Jeremiah would like to say a few words," The priest said.

Camille rubbed his arm as Jerry stood up and walked to the podium. He stood still for a second he cleared his throat and said, "Evelyn was in this city for a long time y'all. She saw a lot that was terrible, but she stayed hopeful. She believed that things were getting better, sometimes despite all the evidence and that's a hard thing to do. Stay hopeful." Jeremiah's voice cracked slightly but he kept going, "even if you can't find a reason she'd want all of you today to laugh, tell a joke or something, not cry and that's a hard thing to do."

I watched as Jeremiah went back to his seat and Jack got up straightening his coat as he made his way to the podium.

"Cracker Jack." Bobby muttered.

"I never bothered looking for my real parents. Because Evelyn was enough. To go from foster house to foster house, those people just watching, just looking for the money. You were hardly given anything to eat. You learned to take what you can get. When Evelyn took me in, it was no different for me. Until she caught me with my pockets all full. And she tried to explain to me what it meant to be adopted, and what it meant to have a family, and what it meant to have a last name. And she would say: "Jackie, there's no reason to steal your own toothbrush anymore." 'Cause I would, I would, I would take it, and I'd put it in my sock drawer."

Jack had been crying throughout the eulogy pausing every so often to regain some composure but it didn't help. By the end of his eulogy Bobby had popped up and started rubbing Jack's back. He must've told Jack to go sit back down because Jack walked back to his seat still crying a little.

"You know, Mom wasn't big on goodbyes," Bobby shrugged. "So, God bless you and thank you for coming."

**Lieutenant Green's Point of View**

I still couldn't believe that Evelyn Mercer was dead. I was the first to arrive on the scene and at first I thought that both Mercer women had been gunned down before I could move closer to either of them, Lux had shot up gasping for air. What was surprising was she looked at Evelyn, her eyes filled with tears before drying up. She visibly shut down after that, ignoring every time I tried to move her away.

My partner Fowler and I were parked across the street from Jerry's house, watching as people filed in to pay their respects. Fowler had come into the precinct after the Mercer's had left the City. So, he didn't really know the entire family, or the reputation they had. He had thought that he knew them just because he knew of Evelyn and Jerry. But, he was in for a rude awakening.

"Wow, it's been a long time since people have seen that face around here." I mused as I watched Bobby Mercer drive by.

"Must've gotten off on good behavior." Detective Fowler shrugged.

"Not likely." I scoffed, "That's Bobby Mercer. Heavy weight champion, fuck up with a family. And that's a well-defended title. Would've made his Daddy proud if he ever had one. I use to know him a little. Played hockey with the boy. Got thrown out of sixty odd games before the league got sick of him. They called him the Michigan Mauler.

"Whose the kid?" Detective Fowler asked.

"Oh, that's Jack." I answered, "First class fuck up, third class rock star."

"He doesn't look like trouble." Detective Fowler said.

"He's a Mercer don't let him fool you." I warned. I remembered Jack he might hate confrontation but if anyone messed with his family you'd find out pretty damn quickly that messing with him was a stupid mistake. He was also the most sensitive of the group and the cautious one as well. Jack was sort of like Jerry in the way that he'd always attempt to diffuse the tempers of his other five siblings.

"Who we got over here?" Detective Fowler questioned, "Another model citizen. I'm sure."

"Actually Jeremiah's alright. He was a rising star in the union for a while. The man found a cause." I replied.

He also had two young daughters that would calm anyone down from the life he use to lead. Once upon a time Jerry was just as much of a force to be reckoned with as Angel and Bobby. I was glad to say that he had since settled down seeing how he has his entire family to worry about. His little girls couldn't defend themselves yet, that would cause any man to tread lightly.

"We got three MIA." Fowler said, "I thought you said there were six."

"Well, there's Angel, pretty boy, ex-hustler, soldier. Last I heard he was rising through the ranks rather quickly." I explained.

"And then there's twins?" Fowler prodded.

"Benjamin Mercer is the youngest boy," I said. "The boy knows how to hack through nearly any computer system and he's a genius with a car. He could tear either apart and have it reassembled in hours, having it working better than he had before."

"And the girl?" Fowler questioned looking around the lot.

My eyes roamed over the street until I found Ben and Lux standing together in front of Jerry's house. The winter sunlight bathed her, highlighting the delicacy of her deceptively innocent features. Her caramel hair was darker in the winter, causing her and Ben to look even more like twins then they normally did. The girl had one hell of a temper and had once beat the crap out of a boy twice her size and came out of the fight with a busted lip and a black eye. The boy had a broken nose, a few broken rips, and a broken arm.

"Dorothea Lux," I shook my head.

"Now she looks completely harmless," Fowler laughed.

"Call her Princess and see what happens," I snickered. At Fowler's confused expression I told him, "Lux was committed to a Psychiatric Hospital when she was eleven years old. In that time, she was raped consistently over a year and a half. Her rapist called her princess every single time from that day on anyone else who dare used the pet name walked away with something broken."

"That little thing?" Fowler scoffed.

"Yeah," I replied. "Lux has a temper nearly as bad as Bobby's. She has a rap sheet just as long but we never got a charge to stick. Her IQ is nearly genius level and she uses her brains to her advantage. Lux got a full ride to UPenn and graduated Cass Technical as the valedictorian. Evelyn told me she was double majoring in Biochemistry and history. I've seen the girl talk and flirt her way out of nearly any trouble that came her way. She could talk most cops out of arresting her brother's as well."

"I don't get it." Fowler exclaimed opening the car door, "If this woman is such a goddamn saint. How'd she end up raising six total fuck ups?"

"Miss Evelyn has cycled hundreds of kids out of the foster care system and into permanent homes. In all her years she only found six lost causes. Six delinquents so far gone she couldn't find anyone to take them in. So she did. Trust me, Fowler, these kids are congressmen compared to what they would've been."

**Ben's Point of View**

I hated things like this, where people I didn't even know pretended that they knew exactly what I was going through. Acted like we had been the best of friends. Sure, I recognized some of Ma's coworkers and made sure to say hi to them but other than that, I stuck close to Lux, making sure that no one tried to force her to talk.

Lux was keeping her distance from Amelia and Daniela who didn't exactly understand what was going on. Which was why they'd probably get their feelings hurt by thinking their only Aunt was mad at them. I saw Green and his new partner approaching and quickly steered Lux into the house away from the police and their questions. I knew that they still hadn't gotten any answers as to what had happened. In my experience was cops didn't care about ones feelings when they were looking to wrap up a case.

A few hours later Bobby was shouting, "Benny, Luxie, let's go!"


	6. Cracks in the Armor

**Chapter Six: Cracks in the Armor**

**Ben's Point of View**

We took Bobby and Jerry's car to get back home. The lot of us moving toward the house. The place that had once seemed so warm and welcoming now felt cold and abandoned. I sighed heavily as I followed the rest of my brothers.

"It's good to be home," Jerry mumbled.

"So, shit, Bobby, what've you been up to?" Jack asked as Jerry opened the front door.

"I'm a freaking college professor, Jack," Bobby scoffed. "What do you think I've been doing?"

"Running the best strip club in Chicago?" I guessed.

"Same old Bobby," Jack laughed as Bobby turned to look at me incredulously. Asking how could I have known that without saying a word.

"What about you?" Bobby asked Jack. "You still sucking a little cock left and right?"

"Fucker," Jack huffed before turning to Angel. "Did you get your teeth whitened?"

"Man, shut up, Jackie-poo," Angel retorted.

We were all in the foyer now just looking around. It was almost instinctual to wait for Ma to greet us but then the sharp realization that we'd never hear her greet us ever again hurt and it hurt a lot.

"I'm going to get something to eat. Are y'all hungry?" Angel asked.

"No, I'm gonna get some sleep," Bobby said.

Without saying a word Lux walked up the stairs and into our room. Jerry wandered into the living room, Angel into the kitchen, while Bobby, Jack, and I went upstairs to our separate rooms. I pushed open the door surprised to see that Lux had changed out of her dress and was back in that UPenn sweatshirt and a pair of pajama pants. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, hunched over, her hair was in her face, and I could sense that tonight would be the night where she actually started to mourn.

At Ma's funeral there hadn't been a dry eye in the house. Or most of the house. Lux and Bobby hadn't shed one single tear, though it was probably for two different reasons. Lux, liked to hold every emotion (except anger) in until it exploded. Bobby, on the other hand never held anything back. But with Ma gone, Bobby was the official head of the Mercer brood and despite his reputation as a fuck up, he wouldn't fuck up as far as family was concerned. So, he was being the strong one for all of us and it didn't go unappreciated.

I changed out of my suit and into a tee shirt and a pair of pajama pants before I walked back out of the room, closing the door behind me. I noticed that every door was closed. The Temptations leaked from Angel's boom box, while Jack was playing his guitar. The steps to the attic were down, meaning that Bobby hadn't gone to his room yet. I heard the water running and I knew that he was in the bathroom, attempting to use the sound of running water to hide the fact that he was crying.

I wandered down the staircase making sure not to go into the living room, lest I disturb Jerry. My feet moved on their own, directing me down and into the basement that Ma had renovated into a home office. It was where the one computer in the house sat and I smiled at it fondly. That one crappy PC had been the cause of tons of arguments between my siblings and I. It always seemed if one person had a project, someone else would be on it surfing the Internet for random bullshit. At the time it drove me crazy but now it warmed my heart. Because Ma had given that to me. He gave me older brothers who would look after me, protect me, and tease the holy hell out of me.

Tears slid down my face as I crumbled into the couch that Ma had placed in the corner. I remember conversations between Ma and I. Whenever I messed up with Annabel, I could ask Ma what I did wrong. She was always there with advice of some sort. We were never a nuisance and she always would help us, now matter what time it was or how tired she must've been after working all day only to come home to cook for six kids.

How could someone have done this to Ma? The one person who actually made it their job to give a damn about every single kid in the Detroit foster system. The one person who seemed to take social work seriously. She had cycled hundreds of kids into permanent homes. We, the six of us, were the only ones too far gone. The ones no one wanted to deal with. Because despite all the abuse we were still disobedient, insubordinate, do-whatever-we-want-because-we-can kids.

We weren't cute, like the little ones who got snatched up like newborn puppies. Nope, no one wanted to deal with the emotionally scarred thirteen year old. Especially one who 'claimed' to have a twin sister and would refuse to go anywhere unless his social worker promised to find her. Lying son of a bitch. He found her all right and then he didn't do shit about it.

Ma was the one person who actually did what I asked. She had found her and got her out of that goddamn psychiatric hospital. I had seen her one the entire time she had been in there. And I hadn't liked it. Her eyes were glazed over and she didn't even seem to be alive, she was just waiting for someone to put her out of her misery. I told Ma all about her and what I knew. At first Ma was reluctant to house another kid. Not that I blamed her five boys were enough of a handful for everyone. But, Ma had gone to see her and when she came home she was resolved to not only get Lux out of there but to give her the home she needed.

Bobby, Jerry, Angel, and Jack had been brothers for years by the time Lux and I showed up. Bobby had been a Mercer since he was thirteen years old. Jerry was twelve when he was adopted and so was Angel. Jack, on the other hand came to be a Mercer when he was ten. The age gap between them scattered around. Bobby was the oldest he was two years older that Jerry, who was four years older than Angel, who was two years older than Jack. Despite all the years they were together and how close they were, they had welcomed me with open arms until it felt that we had been a family our entire lives.

It was funny to see them interact with Lux at first. It was rather difficult since she wouldn't talk or look at anyone. She'd mumble answers to Ma and would sometimes answer direct questions but other than that she wouldn't make a sound. At least not after the first day. When she first came home, hiding behind Ma, stick thin and two deep scratches one on her forehead stopping just before her left eye and an even deeper one on her collarbone. Bobby had been pissed but they all knew the routine. Newbie's tended to be rather skittish with new surroundings and yelling wouldn't be helpful...ever. Her hazel eyes were huge and seemed so scared as she looked around at her new family. None of my other brothers didn't seem know what to do with a sister. Hey figured it out quickly, especially when they found out that she could curse up a storm.

When she found me she let out a small gasp before ducking around Ma and running at me, jumping into my open arms. We were both crying and refused to let one another go. It had been years since we had seen each other at length. That one hospital visit really wasn't enough. After she had calmed down she seemed at least somewhat trusting of our other brothers but she still didn't like to talk.

I was crying so hard it hurt my chest, it hurt to breathe but nothing hurt more then knowing that I could never ask Ma's advice again. I wouldn't hear her laugh at our antics or the fact that she always hummed when she cooked. I'd never smell her honey apple perfume or feel her hugs. Or the comfort that only her gaze could give me.

**Bobby's Point of View**

I was going to kill the fuckers who had murdered my mother in cold blood. These past few days had been hell on earth. Finding out my Ma had died had been hard, by the time I got back to Detroit I could see how much the family was reeling. It wasn't all that surprising because Ma was everything to use. She brought us together and made us a family. Having her not be here had knocked everyone off kilter. Lux had fallen back into old habits, Ben and Jerry were at a loss, and Angel and Jack just seemed stunned. I was going to kill the motherfuckers who did this.

I heard the Temptations coming through Angel's speakers and thought about how oddly fitting it was. I turned on the sink, when I felt a sob bubbling to the surface. Ma wasn't here anymore and now I was the head of the household. I could deal with being the man of the house but being the only one my siblings would look to was overwhelming. I wish I had been there. I could've stopped this, gotten her safe. She shouldn't have died the way she did. The one person who had actually given a damn about me, or rather the first person. She never let me get away with my bullshit and wasn't afraid to call me out. She was able to get the respect she felt she deserved without raising her voice or fists. Evelyn Mercer was a saint who never should've even dreamt about dying in a convenience store robbery.

When I felt like I was back under control I wiped my face with a towel and decided to see how my siblings were doing. Knowing them like I did, they were spread out all over the house, even the twins. The only benefit to Lux being in the state she was in was that I didn't have to worry about her running around on the roof.

I opened the bathroom door and walked straight into Jack's room. He had changed into a tee shirt and jeans and was quietly strumming on his guitar.

"You been crying in here, you little fairy?" I teased leaning against Jack's bed as I sat down.

"Leave it alone, man," Jack mumbled putting the guitar down and grabbing a tin where he kept his weed and rolling papers in.

"Still making a lot of racket on that freaking thing?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jack smiled. "Still making a lot of racket."

"It's crazy," I shook my head. "She didn't change nothing in this house."

I noticed a blur from the hallway and looked over noticing that Jerry was leaning against the threshold of the door, smiling at Jack and I.

"Look at y'all," Jerry smiled.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Jerry replied. "I'm just happy to see you, man. Happy to see my brother's that's all."

"I'm happy to see you too, Jerry," I smirked.

"I guess I'll stop by the grocery store and grab a turkey or something," Jerry mused. "Have a Thanksgiving dinner. Let's at least act like we're a real family."

"Mom would like that," I nodded.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jerry demanded as Angel attempted to slink by.

"It's a little heavy in there," Angel shrugged. "I'm just gonna go outside and get me a little air."

"You're full of shit, man," I scoffed. "You can smell that ass from down the street, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Angel growled.

"What do you mean, what?" I snickered. "Come on, what. You know exactly what we're talking about with La Vida Loca."

"Ain't nobody going to get no La Vida nothing," Angel snapped.

"She's gotta boyfriend," Jerry told him.

"She's got a boyfriend," I repeated. "She got hard dick in her right now. She's screaming someone else's name, and the last thing she's doing is thinking about your black ass. Leave it alone, man."

It felt nice to hear Jack and Jerry laughing and I smiled widely at Angel who glared at me, "I can't believe y'all are coming at me with this crazy junk, man."

"She's nothing but trouble," Jerry warned.

"I'm standing here telling y'all both right now, I'm not gonna see that girl, and I'm not!" Angel grumbled.

"Yeah, okay," Jerry and I scoffed.

Angel turned to give us one last glower before stalking down the stairs and out the door. Jerry and I exchanged looks as Jack continued to laugh. I stood to my feet and looked at my little brothers.

"I'm going to check on Lux," I announced.

"Yeah," Jerry said. "She might listen to you, Bobby. Cause she sure as hell didn't listen to a damn thing I had to say."

"You know how she gets like this whenever something bad happens," I sighed.

"Yeah, man, I know," Jerry said. "I'll go check on Benny boy. You wanna come Jackie?"

"Sure," Jack shrugged getting off of his bed and flicking the remnants of the cigarette out the open window.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Basement," Jerry said. "The kid thinks I didn't see him walk right by me."

I shook my head the twins had warped ideas of being sneaky. When they were trying to be sneaky we almost always caught them but if they weren't trying then we'd never catch them. I guess it was just one of those things. Granted, Lux nearly always got away with sneaking onto the roof until Ben inevitably told us where she was.

I watched Jerry and Jack go to find Ben as I walked into the twin's room. Lux had changed out of her dress and into sweats, which was good but the fact that she sat on the edge of the bed, slumped over made me worried.

I walked to stand in front of Lux. I always felt it was easier dealing with my brothers because I could tease the holy hell out of them but I knew how to give comfort or advice if the situation called for it. Lux was different though. Sometimes I still saw her as that scared, impossibly skinny thirteen year old that wouldn't let go of Ma's hand as she regarded us unsurely.

Lux slowly raised her head and looked up at me questioningly. Her eyes were big and wet. The unadulterated grief in her gaze cut to bone. I might not have heard the grief that Lux was going through but there was a scream in Lux's miserable eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked before immediately berating myself. Of course she isn't okay, you idiot. She watched her mother die in front of her eyes. And I swore to her and anyone else that was listening that I would make sure those fucks paid for that.

I crouched down in front of her resting my hands lightly on either side of her legs, "You need anything?"

My baby sister shook her head quickly, her gaze had slid right back to the floor and I frowned at that. "Are you hungry?"

What the hell is this, Mercer? Twenty fucking questions? But as stupid as it felt, they were questions I needed to ask. She had lost a lot weight in college and it made me wonder if she was skipping meals. It was a habit she normally did when she was too focused on something. Like school or her grief.

That particular question earned me a more definite shake of her head. I rocked back on my heels unsure whether or not that was a good thing as she had yet to say a word. She was slowly coming out of whatever this was. She could make eye contact and she answered questions as long as she could shrug or shake her head. Her eyes were burning a hole through that carpet as she fought not to look at me. Normally she hated it whenever someone was looking at her like I was now. But, I don't think much really mattered to her at the moment.

"When was the last time you ate, Luxie?" I whispered. I blinked in surprise, my voice was so gentle I hardly recognized it as my own. Hell, no one else probably would've either. It was a tone purely reserved for my little brothers and sister when something bad had happened. And I'd say this fit the bill.

As the silence stretches on I realize how good of a question that was. She couldn't answer that by shrugging or shaking her head. Granted, it seemed like she had chosen not to answer at all, which wasn't an option that I'd allow. I squeezed her leg, prompting her as I asked again, "Lux, when was the last time you ate?"

"Dunno," She said. Her voice as quiet as I ever heard it. So, quiet that if I hadn't been waiting for it I wouldn't have caught it.

"Luxie, what happened to Ma isn't your fault," I said firmly cupping her cheek, forcing her to make eye contact. "You're not alone, Lux." And god help me if my voice didn't crack at the unmasked pain written all over her face. I realized how much she was barely hanging on.

She doesn't move, doesn't speak, she doesn't do a thing. And goddamn it if that doesn't make me feel useless. Like I made everything worse instead of helping. That's why Ma should be here, she'd know exactly what to do. But, she wasn't here and I was and I had to help my baby sister in some way. And then just when I think I've fucked up in the biggest way, Lux makes a sound. It's a small, quiet sob that seemed to have tore it's way out of her throat. It sounded so painful so I moved closer trying to help.

At the same moment, Lux reached out blindly, since she had started looking at the ground again, her eyes now filled with tears. Her small hand finally collided with my flannel tee shirt grabbing it tightly between her fingers. Now, that was a movement I recognized. Lux had done that whenever I comforted her after one of her nightmares. Only this time the nightmares are worse, because she's awake and there's no waking up from this. Her hand started to shake and I wrapped my own around her wrist.

My voice became deeper now, firmer but still gentle, "I'm here, Luxie. I'm right here."

I know she heard me but when she flinched I knew that she also heard the gunshots, the thump of a lifeless body hitting the floor. She let out a sob, this one louder as she suddenly hurls herself forward. I let out a small grunt of surprise and a little pain as Lux collides with my chest, knocking the air out of lungs, and nearly bowling me over.

"Whoa," I soothed, "Easy, Luxie."

She froze in her movements and then sat back down, head hanging even lower. I sat down leaning against Ben's bed as I regarded her again. "Come here," I whispered.

I stretched my legs out in front of me as Lux nearly tumbled off the bed and onto my lap, nearly falling in her eagerness, I caught her, gathering her up and settling her on my lap as she burrowed into my side, her hands once again grabbing my flannel in a death grip as she buried her face in the space between my neck and shoulder. I kept my arms around her as she began to shake with barely suppressed sobs. Her breath and tears are hot on my neck but she's still holding back and I know it won't be long before she broke entirely.

"I'm here," I crooned. "Right here. Just let it out, Luxie. Come on, baby girl."

I felt her shake her head and almost smiled. The girl would and could be stubborn in any and all situations.

"No," Lux whispered. "No, Bobby."

"I'm right here," I repeated firmly. "And I've got you and I'm not letting go until you're ready."

**Lux's Point of View**

If people could see Bobby right now they'd probably die of shock. Here was the Michigan Mauler being kind and soothing. Most people would think it would never happen. But, that's only because only a lucky few got to see this side of Bobby. At Bobby's promise not to let go until I was ready I burst into another sob, another small flood of tears. I thought and vaguely so that I should apologize for this. That I should pull myself together. It wasn't only my Ma that died and I'm in my early twenties and here I am huddled in my big brother's lap bawling my eyes out. But, I don't have the strength to give a shit.

Everything hurt too much. When I close my eyes I see Ma being shot. I see the gunmen holding her at gunpoint and shooting her. I hear the ring of the bullet and the thump of a lifeless body. The once very lively body of Evelyn Mercer who would raise hell to help any child anywhere her own or otherwise. And someone had murdered her. Just thinking about it brings another wave a pain and grief, so painful and overwhelming that I grit my teeth. It feels that if Bobby were to let me go I'd be blown away. This hurts more than anything has ever hurt before and there's nothing I could do about it.

I burrow closer to Bobby, relishing his warmth and the solid security his embrace always offered. I know that he would never break a promise and he had promised to get the bastards that had done this to Ma. I feel something break in me as my body goes limp and suddenly my sobs aren't so quiet anymore and they're coming more frequently until I'm all out bawling. Sobs wrack my body, making head spin and throat hurt but I can't stop. Bobby's voice is hoarse from repeating that he's here but he knows that I need to hear it. Because as foolish as it sounds it still feels like he'll abandon me or leave me to deal with this on my own and I can't do that. Not that Bobby would ever do that because sometimes he knows what we need more than he knows what he needs and sometimes even better than we know what we need.

Bobby's rubbing my back as my sobs slowly began to taper off until I'm just hiccupping and sighing shakily. True to his word he doesn't let me go until I lean back against his chest head lolling in exhaustion.

"Thanks," I whisper.

"You don't have to thank me, Luxie," Bobby replied as he helped me stand up. "Now, how about we get you something to eat?"

I opened my mouth to say I wasn't hungry when Bobby pinned me with a reproachful look, "There's only one answer I'm looking for, Lux."

And within an instant tough-love Bobby Mercer was back and giving me his I-don't-have-tolerance-for-any-bullshit look.

"Fine," I mumbled.

"That's my girl," Bobby praised following behind me as I walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

Jack and Jerry were in the kitchen picking at the odds and ends in the pantry. I attempted to grab a protein bar but Bobby slapped it out of my hand and cocked his head towards the fridge causing me to roll my eyes. Hazel met brown in a heated glare, two stubborn people not willing to back down. Only Bobby had the goddamn height advantage on his side and he straightened up before gazing at me coolly.

"A protein bar is food, Bobby," I snapped. "And it's all I'm eating."

"Dorothea," Bobby warned.

"It's my body!" I responded.

"Yeah and you look like a fucking holocaust victim," Bobby growled. "You're going to eat something more then a protein bar."

I grabbed two protein bars raising my brow in an outright challenge. Bobby narrowed his eyes on me before he shook his head, obviously deciding to let it go. I grinned victoriously as I took a bite out of one of them, not so subtly tossing the other one back as Bobby walked into the living room.

The others soon called it a night as I sat down at the kitchen table, looking around. I didn't realize how much I had zoned out until I heard the squeal of tires followed with the distinct sound of gunshots. I narrowed my eyes as I heard a familiar shout and an even more familiar shout of, "hurry up!"

I opened the door seconds before Angel and Sofi rushed in. Sofi was clad in only a bra and panties, with Angel's coat. I shook my head as I closed and locked the door.

"Not one word," Angel growled as I opened my mouth to say something.

"Bobby's going to kill you," I shrugged as I began to walk away.

"Baby girl," Angel growled.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Angel," I smiled widely ignoring the dark look my brother threw in my conversation.

Even though I had called it last night, sometime the next morning when I heard shouting from downstairs I huffed out a breath. I rubbed my eyes and stretched blinking across the room to find Ben yawning as his hair stood on end. We exchanged glances before we both rolled our eyes. You knew that it was loud when you didn't even have the open the door to hear what was being said.

"You ain't running shit, Bobby!" Angel yelled.

"Loco Ono is not staying in this house!" Bobby retorted.

"Bullshit, Bobby!" Angel growled.

"I don't care!" Bobby snapped. "La Vida Loca ain't staying in this house one more night. So get her stuff and…"

"So it's your house?" Angel demanded.

"This isn't a homeless shelter." Bobby hissed.

"You're not running shit, Bobby," Angel groaned. "You're not!"

"Hey Bobby!" Sofi yelled.

"Baby, why don't you go back upstairs?" Angel suggested. "I've got this covered."

"What's wrong with you?" Sofi demanded. A sound of smack echoed and I figured that Sofi had smacked Angel.

"Go back upstairs," Angel ordered.

"Why do you let him talk to me like that?" Sofi questioned.

"Go upstairs," Angel growled.

Sofi let out a string of Spanish as I opened the door. Just as I expected she hadn't moved an inch from hovering on the middle of the staircase.

"Was I speaking Spanish?" Bobby demanded. "Was I speaking Spanish?"

"You weren't speaking at all," I mumbled brushing past Sofi as I walked downstairs. "You were shouting at the top of your lungs at nine in the damn morning."

I ducked the slap Bobby had aimed at the back of my head as I made a beeline towards the coffee.

"What's your problem?" Sofi asked.

"Can you stop talking to my girl like that, man?" Angel pleaded. "That's what I'm talking about, Bobby."

"She wasn't your girl as of yesterday, man," Bobby scoffed. "She had another man. So, I'm confused."

"What are you talking about?" Angel growled. "She is my girl!"

I heard the crack of a hockey stick against the paneled flooring seconds before a puck when whizzing by Ben's head as he tried to get breakfast.

"The fuck, Bobby?" Ben whined. "Who the hell are you aiming for?"

"Sorry, Benny boy," Bobby laughed as Sofi huffed and flounced up the remaining steps before a door slammed shut.

"Dick," Angel grumbled before following after Sofi.

"She hasn't changed a bit," Ben shook his head.

"I don't understand why he even goes back to that psycho," I shrugged. "I mean it's every single time, like clockwork."

"Morning guys," Jerry shouted coming in through the back door and smiling at the two of us. He held two bags of food and looked around before frowning. "Angel brought her home, didn't he?"

"Yup," Ben smirked popping the 'p'.

"You just missed the fireworks," I informed him smiling when Jerry rolled his eyes.

"Bobby, why the fuck is there a puck in the kitchen?" Jerry demanded kicking it back into the living room.

"I think he was aiming for Angel and missed, almost got me instead," Ben huffed.

"Morning, fairy!" Bobby shouted from the living room as Jack came downstairs. "Did you have a nice beauty sleep?"

"Fuck off," Jack replied.

"Ooh, Kitty grew some claws," Bobby snickered.

Jack mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't exactly hear but I was sure that it slighted Bobby's character in some way or another. Within the next few hours, the hockey game was on. Jack was cooking the turkey, while I made the sides. The rest of the guys were watching the game.

Just because it was Thanksgiving didn't mean that there wasn't bickering. I heard dozens of arguments from the living room at one point or another quickly followed by thumps and thuds.

"Man, why do you always start with that shit?" Bobby complained a little bit later.

"Yeah, you're one to talk, Bobby," Angel retorted.

"Stop it, Ang," Jerry grumbled. "I'm trying to watch the game, man."

"What are you gonna do?" Angel challenged. "With your big ass teeth. Ya gonna bite me?"

"You do have some big ass teeth, Jerry," Bobby laughed as I heard Ben laugh. I saw Jack smile and shake his head as he basted the turkey.

"Just wait and see," Jerry stated.

"You're a woman," Angel mumbled.

Whatever annoying thing Angel was doing, it was obvious that he had done it again, despite Jerry telling him to cut it out. I heard the familiar smack of someone getting hit upside the head.

"What are you doing?" Angel growled.

"I'm still your big brother," Jerry laughed.

"The gorgeous black ladies of wrestling," Bobby narrated. "Nitro and Midnight. Oh, Nitro has midnight in a headlock. Yeah! Get 'im, Jerry!"

Another round of thumps and thuds followed by cheering from Bobby and Ben soon followed before it stopped just as suddenly as it began. I heard the couch creak as someone got up and wandered into the dining room where Jackie had gone to set the table.

"Hey, Jack, let me ask you a question," Bobby began, "is dinner almost ready?"

"Almost," Jack said.

"So, have you come out of the closet yet?" Bobby asked.

"Don't you think it's time for a new joke?" Jake grumbled.

"Look, Jackie, it's all over the talk shows," Bobby said. "You have to admit to yourself who you really are as a person inside. If you're homosexual you think I care? I love you, man, you're my brother."

"Bobby, I guarantee you that I'm banging way more chicks than you are," Jack stated.

"And they're okay with you being gay? Bobby laughed.

"Why do you even let him bother you?" Jerry questioned.

"Because I'm not gay, Jerry," Jack growled.

"That sounded pretty gay," Bobby noted. "If you ain't gay, then why do you have that big, thick meat tenderizer in your tongue?"

I wasn't all that surprised when Jack stormed back into the kitchen. He always did hate the gay jokes. He was leaning against the counter for a second before he took out his tongue ring.

"Jack. Jack, I'm only kidding," Bobby called after him. "The tongue ring is very masculine. Come on, man, let's eat. Bring out that bird."

I shook my head and laughed as Jack rolled his eyes before grabbing the turkey and bringing it out to the table. The mood was slightly better than it had been the past couple of days but things just still didn't feel right. I doubted they ever would. As my brothers and I joined hands, I couldn't help but glance at Ma's seat, shuddering as I quickly turned away.

"Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, thank you for this day," Bobby prayed. "Thank you for this food we're about to receive and thank you for bringing us together. Amen."

"Amen," The rest of us whispered before sitting down.

"Pass the salad, man," Jerry asked Angel as Bobby carved up the turkey.

I nibbled on the turkey slower than normal. Granted nothing about this was normal. Not when Ma was laying in the ground somewhere and the people who had killed her were living it up without any consequences. At least not yet, anyway. I put down my fork and knife and sighed lowly.

"May I be excused?" I asked.

"Lux…" Bobby began.

"I'm tired," I replied. "And I have a headache. I…I'm sorry. I can't do this."

This time before anyone could say a word I got up and walked quickly too the stairs before walking back up them and crawling into my bed. I actually managed to fall asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

_The house was the embodiment of the holidays. The smells of the turkey and all the sides wafted through the house, making the already warm house feel so cozy. Ben, Jerry, Angel, Bobby, and I were watching the football game while Jackie and Ma were cooking dinner. _

"_Dinner's ready everyone!" Ma called._

_Bobby turned off the television as we all gathered into the dining room. Once we had all been served and said grace, we quickly lapsed into quiet conversation. _

"_Luxie," Ma called._

_I turned to look at Ma noticing her bright smile, "It really is good to have you home, sweet heart."_

_I smiled back before I saw the bright red stain in the middle of her shirt. It started out small but grew quickly, "Ma, what happened?"_

"_Oh," Ma shrugged. "I saw shot."_

"_No," I whispered._

"_I know you remember, Luxie," Ma coaxed. "We were buying things for Thanksgiving and then the robbery happened…"_

"_I…I know," I stuttered._

_It was horrifying to watch as blood pooled out of the wound. Ma never stopped smiling._

"_Guys," I called._

"_What is it?" Jerry asked._

"_There's something wrong with Ma," I cried._

"_What are you talking about?" Angel said. "Ma's not there, Luxie. She's dead."_

"_No," I shook my head turning to look at Ma, who was still in her seat, smiling at all of us. "Ma?"_

_The scene switched from our dining room to the convenience store. I was dangling off the floor, held by one of the masked gunman as the other one aimed the rifle at Ma. I kicked and scratched but there was nothing I could do._

"_May God forgive you and save your souls," Ma stated._

_The gunshots were deafening but nothing was louder than the thump of a lifeless body._

"Lux!" Bobby shouted.

"_Ma!" I sobbed. "Ma, please. Don't leave me, oh please god, no."_

"Luxie, wake up!" Bobby growled shaking me.

I yelped shooting out of bed and Bobby's arms, ducking under Angel and Jerry, swerving around Jack before I finally made it to the bathroom, closing the door shut behind me. I grabbed the screwdriver that I had left in a drawer a few years ago and wedged it in the door just enough to keep it from opening. I ignored the fact that my brothers were shouting outside the door. I leaned against the back wall, trying to quell my trembling.

That was hands down one of the worst nightmares I had ever had. I think it had even topped the recurring rape dream that I had. I tried to get the image of Ma bleeding to death at the dining room table out of my head but it refused to move. I know it was just a dream but it was disturbing as all hell. Things had been normal and most likely how the holidays would've gone down if Ma had been alive. Instead, we were all pretending we were happy and dealing when we weren't.

"Dorothea, you unlock this door right now," Bobby ordered. "You hear me?"

I heard quiet muttering on the other side of the door before it shook once and the screwdriver fell to the ground. Instead of Bobby bursting through the door, Ben slunk in before closing the door behind him.

"What happened?" Ben asked.

"It was the worst dream I ever had, Benny," I whispered. "Ma was sitting at the table. Everything seemed normal at first and then I noticed the gunshot wound. She never stopped smiling even as the bleeding grew worse. Then I was back in the convenience store, watching her die all over again."

Ben's face went ashen before he threw his arm around me, hugging me close to his side.

"To hell with this, man," Bobby complained. "Let's go get a pick up game. I wanna see some quick sticks and tight passing."

"It's too cold," Angel complained. "I ain't come all the way back here to go play hockey."

"Come on, ladies," Bobby ordered. "Let's go!"'

Ben and I exchanged glances before we stood to our feet and wandered over to our rooms. We all had gone into our rooms to grab our hockey gear before we all climbed into Jerry's Volvo. Despite the freezing cold weather and the fact that it was Thanksgiving there were other people on the ice. We all laced up as Bobby went to go talk to the other people on the ice before Bobby waved us over.

"Come on, ladies," Bobby coaxed. "Let's show these guys some fucking skills."

"Yeah, come on, bring it," Ben smirked.

I stood off to the side as Jerry went over to the opposite goal as the rest of glided over to the middle of the court. Bobby and the other person grabbled over the puck before Bobby grabbed it, passing it to Angel as the everything exploded into action. I caught the puck after Angel passed it to me before I passed it back to Angel, who scored the first goal. The goalie muttered something as he passed the puck to one of his teammates. I skated slowly behind him before I stuck my stick out tripping him into the side railing as I hit the puck to Bobby, who passed it to Ben.

"Pass me the puck, Bobby!" Ben called.

"Go, Benny, go!" Bobby shouted.

Jack skated close to Ben running with the puck as Ben hit it to him.

"Come on, Jackie-O!" Bobby yelled. "Hit him hard. That was weak, man."

"Shut up, Bobby," Jack complained.

I laughed when Jack suddenly elbowed on of the other guys in the face.

"Shit, there you go!" Bobby encouraged. "I gotta make a man of out of you."

"Damn it, Bobby," Jack growled. "Why you gotta make them angrier?"

Surprisingly there weren't any fights that broke out between the hockey game. Although it did come close a few times. When Bobby badmouthed one of them. Or when Ben and I knocked another one on his ass. By the time we were done with the game and packing up the Volvo, we were sweaty and exhausted. But, we all felt better or at least until Jerry brought it back to reality.

"Before you all leave Detroit again," Jerry sighed. "We have business to attend too."

"What are you talking about, Jer?" Bobby huffed as he closed the trunk.

"Ma's will is being read tomorrow," Jerry said. "We're also getting all the items in her safety deposit box."

"What time?" Bobby asked.

"Nine," Jerry stated.

"We'll be there," Bobby replied. "Ya going back to your house tonight?"

"Yeah," Jerry nodded.

We once again piled into Jerry's car, enjoying the relative silence of the drive home. Jerry dropped us off with a goodbye and a I'll-see-you-tomorrow before driving home. I followed my brothers into the house and watched as they all went to bed. I glanced fleetingly at my bed before making a split decision. I grabbed the prescription bottle I had hidden in my duffel bag taking two of the capsules before I wandered back down and the stairs to watch television.

Just when I thought I'd fall asleep and experience the demons that seemed to love my nightmares, the Adderall kicked in, leaving me wide-awake. Without the pre-occupation of schoolwork I quickly became bored of sitting around. I grabbed the cleaning products out from under the sink and set about cleaning the entire house from top to bottom. I cleaned the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, and the bathroom. I wandered down into the basement and cleaned the floors and straightened some of Ma's papers. I had even made breakfast and coffee.

Just as I finished, I heard footsteps on the stairs. I turned in the direction and smiled at the confused look on Angel's face.

"Was the house attacked by cleaning elves or something?" Angel muttered as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "What are you doing up so early?"

"There's that thing that Jerry told us about yesterday," I shrugged.

"It's six in the morning, Lux," Angel responded. "We probably won't even be leaving the house until 8:30 or so."

I shrugged again ignoring the probing look Angel sent my way. "How many cups of coffee have you had?" He asked. "You're wired on something, baby girl."

"No, I'm not," I denied quickly.

Angel's eyebrow rose as he regarded me seriously, "Uh-huh. Since when do you like cleaning? Ben's side of the room has always been cleaner than yours."

"People grow up, Angel," I said.

"Uh-huh," Angel said again shaking his head. "You know if you're hiding something. We'll find out about it sooner or later."

I rolled my eyes walking out of the kitchen. I chose to ignore Angel's mutter of, "women" as I climbed the stairs to my bedroom. I looked past my bed and saw that Ben was still fast asleep. I opened the window as quietly as possible, climbing onto the roof before shutting the window behind me. I must've grown at least another couple of inches since the last time I had been up here since it was easier than normal to go all the way on top of the roof. I sat, leaning against the chimney as I looked out into the Detroit skyline, noticing immediately how much colder everything felt without Ma here.


	7. Out of the Darkness

**Chapter Seven: Out of the Darkness**

I don't know how long I stayed on our roof, watching the quiet morning of my old neighborhood. It was at leas a few hours though you wouldn't know it from the temperature. It was still freezing. I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone sat down next to me.

"Bobby's gonna kill you," Ben laughed.

"At least I won't be alone," I smirked.

"I don't even know how you managed to walk up here for all those years," Ben shook his head. "With all the slanted edges and how it's slippery nine times outta ten. Add to the fact that it's been snowing…"

"You get use to it, I guess," I shrugged.

"Uh-huh," Ben said. "Hey, Luxie. What are you doing with ADHD meds?"

"What?" I asked.

"Adderall?" Ben clarified. "It was sticking out of your duffel bag. The thing is if you don't have ADHD, which you don't, it's incredibly dangerous. So, how long have you been abusing prescription meds? My guess would be at least a year maybe two?'

"You don't understand," I whispered.

"Then enlighten me," Ben barked. "Damn it, Luxie. I thought you were smarter then this."

"I am," I snapped. "You try having five papers a week over your head."

"Jesus, Lux," Ben huffed.

"Please, don't tell the others," I pleaded.

"They're gonna find out," Ben responded. "And if it's not from you, they're gonna be pissed."

"I only take it when I'm in school," I replied. "And when I don't wanna sleep. Benny, I didn't want to chance having that nightmare again."

"So, you're going to deprive yourself of sleep instead?" Ben scoffed. "Solid plan, Lux."

"Son of a bitch," Bobby growled from the window directly below us, stopping the conversation between Ben and I in its tracks. "Lux!"

"You left the window open, didn't you?" I laughed.

"I know little Ms. Ivy League isn't dumb enough to be climbing around on the roof when it's been snowing." Bobby exclaimed. "Dorothea Mercer!"

"Uh, yeah," Ben winced.

"Lux!" Bobby shouted. "Ben, get your asses back in this house. We gotta meet Jerry at that Lawyer's place!"

I got up dusting snow off my pants as I swung down to the second level and into the house. Bobby had stepped back from the window and was glowering at me. When Ben tumbled back into the house Bobby's angry features became flinty.

"Are you two trying to kill yourselves?" Bobby snapped.

"We have to keep Darwin on his toes," Ben snickered pulling himself off the floor. "Honestly, Bobby, Luxie's skilled at climbing things she made it look easy."

"Gosh, Benny, that makes me feel so much better," Bobby snarked.

"Really?" Ben grinned, knowing that Bobby was being sarcastic.

"Shut up," Bobby barked only half serious as he clapped Ben upside the head. "The two of you get downstairs. We gotta go."

"So, Ben, is that why you face planted into the room?" I laughed.

"Shut up, Lux," Ben yawned.

"I'm gonna nail that window shut," Bobby muttered turning on his heel and stalking out of the room. "So help me God."

"Cause that's not a fire hazard or anything," I scoffed following our older brother out of our room and running down the stairs following Bobby out to the car.

It didn't take long to get to the lawyer's office and the six of us made our way quickly towards the professional looking building that looked out of place in the middle of Detroit. We all walked into the elevator taking it to the highest floor. The lawyer was waiting for us as we got out of the elevator. He was an older man, maybe around Ma's age with white hair and piercing green eyes. He was tall as well. It clearly showed that he might've been considered intimidating back in the day.

"Follow me," The lawyer ordered looking at the lot of us before he turned on his heel leading us into a conference room gesturing us to take a seat.

"Gentlemen, Dorothea, I am truly sorry about your mother," The lawyer began. "Although, I only met Evelyn the one time she made quite the impression. I know it's difficult to deal with mundane financial matters while your heart still grieves for a loved one."

"Like that's not patronizing at all," I muttered.

Jerry turned to look at me sending me a sharp reproachful look. And then Jack decided to speak, "How much do we get?"

"Come on, man," Jerry growled.

"Man, what the hell…?" Angel demanded

"Excuse me?" The lawyer gaped.

No one listened to him as Bobby smacked Jack upside the back of the head. "Stupid ass, Jack, what's wrong with you?"

"What's that?" Ben asked pointing towards a plain metal box. Shifting our brother's attention from Jack to the grey metal box in the middle of the table.

"This is the content of your mother's safety deposit box," The lawyer replied. "I'll leave you to look through it."

The lawyer got up and left the room and us alone. Bobby slid the box to him as he opened the box. The first thing that laid on top was a bunch of papers.

"Birth Certificates," Bobby announced. Before he passed papers to Jack, Jeremiah, Ben and I. "And the adoption papers."

"Henry Ford Hospital," Jeremiah read. "So I am from Detroit."

"Lansing, Michigan," Jack mumbled.

"My mom was sixteen," Jeremiah whispered.

"I got any papers in there?" Angel asked.

"No," Bobby shook his head.

"I don't?" Angel questioned as Bobby shook his head. "You got any papers in there?"

"No," Bobby replied.

"Then what's all of this?" Angel asked snagging a pretty big stack of papers out of the box.

We watched Angel read the papers before he winced and put them back.

"What are they?" I asked.

"They're yours," Bobby confessed.

Bobby reluctantly handed over the paper and suddenly his reluctance made sense. The logo for Meadow Brook caught my eye and I put them down. I had a suspicion that they were my intake and exit forms and a lot more psychiatric evaluations. All of those were full of shit. Ben shifted his arm so that we were arm to arm and I smiled at him, showing that those stupid papers hadn't effected me.

"Mom went to Woodstock," Jack grinned, breaking the tension that had suddenly appeared with our birth certificates and adoption papers.

"You didn't know Mom was a hippie?" Jerry laughed.

"Here we go," Bobby announced rising to his feet as he pulled out a roll of money, counting it quickly.

The rest of us rose to our feet with Angel saying, "I ain't got no papers in there, man?"

"There's some paper right here," Bobby responded splitting up the money before going it to us. Bobby went to pass Jack his cut when he suddenly pocketed the money.

"What about me?" Jack complained.

"Here sweetheart," Bobby teased tossing Jack one of Mom's rosaries. "That'll look good on you."

"Whatever, man," Jack grumbled. "You're fucking with me."

"Quit crying," Bobby ordered before he passed Jack his cut.

"Come on, I got something to show y'all," Jerry announced.

We all turned towards Jerry and looked a him in confusion. He rolled his eyes as he gestured for us to follow him. Bobby shrugged and followed after Jerry, which made the rest of us follow after them. We left the cars where they were parked as we walked a couple blocks to a completely abandoned warehouse.

"This is it," Jerry grinned sweeping his arms outward as we walked up the front entrance. Glass and graffiti littered the walkway.

"So, this is your dream, Jerry?" Bobby laughed.

"Oh yeah," Jerry nodded. "There's a lot of space here."

"What are you gonna do, build some cars?" Bobby asked.

"No, luxury lofts," Jerry corrected. "Urban sophistication is what I'm talking about."

"So, now you're doing real estate?" Angel asked.

"This whole first floor here is gonna be lavish offices and storefronts," Jerry nodded. "I'm gonna put stained-glass windows here."

"The building is condemned," Bobby noted. "You got insurance?"

"Why?" Jerry questioned suspiciously.

"So we can burn this bitch down," Bobby rolled is eyes.

"No, we ain't burning shit down," Jerry growled. "You always wanna destroy something."

"Look," Bobby said gesturing further into the wide-open space.

This place had once been a factory of some sort. It had to have been abandoned for at least five years.

"Look at your little brother," Bobby continued.

I saw Jack standing away from us, drinking a beer and peeing.

"Jack!" Jerry complained.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jack smirked turning his head to look at us. "Is this the master suite? Am I making the property value go down?"

Jerry scowled at Jack as the rest of us laughed.

"This shithole gives the term Motor City Breakdown a whole new meaning, Jerry," Bobby shook his head.

"How the hell are you gonna pay for all this?" Angel asked.

"Government redevelopment loan," Jerry explained. "Easy to qualify. Low interest rates. Y'all stick around and I might give y'all ass a job."

It was quiet for a moment as we all drank out beer when suddenly Angel began to giggle. I smiled ear-to-ear, it was quite the sight to see a fully decorated marine and a Mercer man, no less, giggle. I looked at him trying to see what was so funny as my other brothers looked at him in confusion.

"They look like nipples," Angel giggled.

"Let's go get a real drink," Bobby rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to head home," I announced.

"Come on, Luxie," Bobby cajoled. "Have a drink with your brothers."

"I'm tired, Bobby," I huffed. "I just wanna go home."

Bobby exchanged glances with the others before taking my elbow and steering me slightly away from them. I squirmed under Bobby's piercing glance. No matter how long it's been since we were all together, like we were now, Bobby had the ability to know when I was lying before I could even attempt to lie.

"What's wrong, Lux?" Bobby asked

"Nothing's wrong," I insisted. "Really."

"You held on to all those papers," Bobby said.

"So what?" I bristled. "They belong to me."

"I just don't think that you need to be reading those," Bobby sighed.

"I'm not manic depressive, Bobby," I grumbled. "I'm fine."

"That was one hell of a nightmare that you refuse to tell us about," Bobby huffed.

"Bobby, I just want to go home," I whined. "You should be happy I don't wanna drink."

Bobby pinned me with a look as he said, "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know," I sighed. "I just wanna go home, Bobby. That's it."

"Okay, Lux," Bobby replied. "We'll drop you off."

I nodded my head as I followed my brothers out of the abandoned warehouse and over to the cars. I waved them goodbye as I walked over to the front door, rolling my eyes to find the cars still idling as I walked into the house. Once the door was locked I made the lights flicker only then did they leave me.

I pulled off my coat and gloves, wincing as the Meadow Brook papers fluttered to the ground. I walked up and changed into my UPenn sweatshirt and sweatpants before ambling back down to the first landing. I walked into the kitchen grabbing the vodka that Ma had always kept at the top of the fridge. I took a large gulp as I fell onto the couch, turning on the TV. As always it was turned to hockey and I didn't care all that much to change it. My eyes drifted to the papers that were still on the floor.

I bit my lip mulling things over before I got up and grabbed them and then sat back down. Just as I thought all the forms were intake and exit forms and psych evaluations. I leafed through one of the first one that was there.

"_Subject shows frequent delusions of her stepfather being abusive. This psychiatrist believes that the cuts and bruises on Dorothea's body are completely self-inflicted. I believe that she is manic depressive and should be kept at this institution until she is no longer a threat to herself and others."_

There was another one that was dated the day after I had been raped. "_Subject shows a extreme reaction to pet names. She has taken to muttering under her breath, 'princess'. She begins to hyperventilate whenever another calls her princess. Somehow she got something sharp and carved into both of her arms. It is my prognosis that the medication is not working. The subject seems to have had a complete mental break."_

For someone who was supposed to be a doctor this guy was still as dense as I remembered him. I rolled my eyes in disgust as I grabbed the bottle of vodka and one of Jack's lighters that he left on the coffee table.

The clock on the oven flashed one am as I walked by and over to the sink, taking another huge gulp as I dropped the papers into the sink. I poured a little alcohol on top of them before lighting it. Just as the flame hit the alcohol soaked papers the front door burst open. I watched the flames and didn't make a move as I listened to Bobby and Jack talk.

"Jack, it was a questionable kill," Bobby sighed as they stripped off their coats.

"What makes you think that?" Jack asked.

"Boy, it's sad you growing up without a father," Bobby mocked. "Nobody taught you anything, did they? I should've stayed around longer and held your little hand, huh, sweetheart?"

"Whatever, man," Jack grumbled.

"Look," Bobby sighed. They're voices were closer so I knew hey had to be near the kitchen. "Sometimes pros will cover up their shots with another crime like a burglary or something. Then pay a witness to throw the cops on the wrong suspect. Ya understand?"

"I just don't understand why anybody would wanna kill the sweetest woman in the goddamn world," Jack hissed.

"I don't know, Jackie," Bobby mumbled.

"Uh, guys?" Ben called as Sofi and Angel ran upstairs. "Why does it smell like alcohol?"

It was all quiet as I turned on the tap demolishing the last of the flames and paper. In that instant my brothers seemed to think about it before all three shouted, "Lux!"

"Hi guys," I smiled.

"You've been drinking?" Jack asked.

"A little," I shrugged.

"Did you set a fire?" Bobby growled.

"Yeah," I laughed. "It was nothing important though."

"You burned the Meadow Brook stuff," Ben said.

"Yup," I agreed. "And before you ask I'm fine."

"Then I'm going to bed," Bobby said taking me at my word. "We're waking up early to go to the corner store…"

"I'm coming too," I stated firmly.

Instead of arguing they seemed to agree before they all began to walk up. Only after they corralled me upstairs with them. I went through the motions of getting ready for bed. Ben turned the lights off as both of us climbed into bed. I waited until I was sure he was asleep, in addition to the rest of the guys, I snuck out of bed. I walked into the bathroom and popped a few more Adderall, noticing that I was beginning to run low. I left it on the counter and I sighed as I waited for it kick in.

Once the drugs kicked in, I managed once again to clean the house from top to bottom. I even tackled the attic (the part that wasn't Bobby's room) and our garage that we almost never used because it was full of so much crap. By the time I had finished the others were beginning to wake up. I was eating a bowl of cereal as the others got ready. Soon the kitchen was full of activity as the others got their breakfast.

"How the hell is the house so clean?" Angel wondered as he dumped his bowl in the sink.

"That's a really good question," Bobby agreed. "Because the house was trashed when we all went to bed."

"Maybe we have elves that clean when we're all sleeping?" Ben suggested pinning me with a look that could only be described as a plea for me to tell them what was going on.

"Yeah, Benny," Angel rolled his eyes. "That's it."

"Well, it's not like your girl's doing it," Bobby retorted. "Even though she should. Earning her keep and all that."

"She doesn't have to earn her keep, Bobby," Angel snarled.

"Yeah, she does," Bobby growled. "Because her sucking your dick doesn't count."

"You ain't running shit," Angel shrugged.

"Guys?" Jerry called from the foyer. "Are we going to go to the store any time soon?"

"Let's go," Bobby huffed.

Angel sneered at Bobby bumping past him and out the door with the rest of us at his heels. We all piled into Bobby's car as we when to the one place in Detroit that I never ever wanted to see again. I was sitting on the roof of the car as we waited for the owner to show up.

"Brilliant idea, you guys," I grumbled. "Standing out in the middle of Detroit in the winter."

"Quit bitching, baby girl," Jerry warned.

"You should be sitting this one out anyway," Bobby said, giving me a reproachful look.

"She was my mother too," I snarled. "And I want to kill the bastards that did this just as much as all of you."

"Lux after everything don't you think that this might be pushing your limits?" Jerry asked.

"Why do you guys always act like I'm going to have some kind of mental break every time we do something?" I growled.

"Easy," Jack whispered, his arm wrapping around my shoulders. "We're just worried about you. That's all."

"He's here," Ben stated.

We all turned to look at the elderly man who was currently unlocking the front door. When he noticed that we were all looking he asked, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, if we could just have a moment of your time, sir," Jack answered.

"Evelyn Mercer was our mother," Bobby explained.

"She was a good lady," The man sighed. "I liked her very much. Let's come inside."

We walked in after the owner and watched as he pulled a small TV out from under the counter and placing it where we could see it. He grabbed a tape and shoved it in before pressing play. I winced as it began to show everything happening. I could close my eyes and still see it only my version was Technicolor.

"This doesn't add up," Bobby hissed. "He's already got the money."

I heard every one inhale sharply as our mother got shot. They watched them taunt her and grab me off my feet. They saw me stab them, and the person send me flying before mom got shot. I felt hands tighten on my shoulders as I stared at the ground.

"Supposedly, a witness told police this was a gang shooting," Bobby said. "Would you know anything about that?"

"The police talked for a long time with one man," The old man answered. "One man more than the others."

"Would you remember what he looked like?" Angel questioned.

"He comes in for Gatorade after the game," The old man stated. "Big guy. Always wears sweats, never a jacket. Even when it snows or rains. He has a dog and a…" At that point he waved his hand around his head.

"A fro?" Jerry suggested.

"Like an Afro?" Angel asked. "Like Ben Wallace the basketball player?"

"Pistons," The man nodded. "Yes, yes, Ben Wallace."

"Okay," Bobby scowled. "Is he on the courts a lot? On the courts or at the gym?"

"Yes," The old man said.

Having what we needed we walked outside. The mood was heavy once again and Bobby was fuming, "That wasn't no gang shooting, that was an execution. They set Mom up. They set her up!"

Before anyone could say anything Bobby broke out into a run, prompting the rest of us to run after him and into the local community center. From the sounds of it, there was a basketball game already in progress as we stalked down the small hallway and into the gym. People lined the walls and were in the stands, watching the players. We stood awkwardly by the door scanning everyone who turned in our direction.

"You guys ready?" Bobby asked.

"What's the plan, Bobby?" Jerry retorted.

"We're winging it, Jerry," Bobby snapped.

"We always wing it," Jerry muttered.

"We're gonna get killed," Jack huffed.

"What do you mean 'we', white boy?" Angel demanded.

"Guys," Bobby growled. "Ready?"

"Here we go," Jerry sneered as Bobby walked out into the middle of the court.

Bobby snagged the basketball and instantly began to rile everyone up, "Yeah! I got the rock now! I got this motherfucker now! What?"

The basketball players swarmed closer to Bobby, causing him to lash out and hit one of them in the face with the basketball. When they started to grab at him I saw the glint of silver and winced. At that point Jerry had joined him in the middle of the court and was no doubt telling Bobby to think things through.

"Whoa!" Bobby yelled. "No need to grab me. Now shut up and listen."

"Get off the floor!" The crowd screamed. "Get off the floor!"

"My name is Bobby Mercer," Bobby barked. "And some of you probably knew my mother. And some of you know she was shot about a week ago across the street. Sixty-two years old murdered in cold blood! I'm looking for a witness. Ball player, a big guy. Apparently he never wears a coat. A dog lover. Ringing any bells?"

At that I looked up at the crowd and looked around trying to see everyone's reactions. Suddenly a young boy stood up and began walking towards the other exit.

"You tell me where I can find the guy and you can finish your game," Bobby cajoled. "All we wanna do is talk to him."

Quickly Jack and Angel disappeared. Ben and I exchanged glances. While Bobby's methods lacked subtlety they were no doubt effective. A few minutes later Jack came back into the room and flagged the others. I watched Jerry hit Bobby and point at us. We began to walk back out into the hallway while Bobby wrapped up his brilliant plan.

"Crazy as hell," Jerry yelled as we walked down the hallway.

"What have we got here?" Bobby smirked.

"Bobby, meet Keenan," Angel introduced. "Keen, this is Bobby."

"Something tells me he was on his way to deliver a warning," Angel explained.

"What's his name, Keenan?" Bobby asked gently.

"Damian," Keenan answered. "He's my brother."

"He's your brother?" Bobby repeated. "No shit. These are my brothers and sister."

"No, dog," Keenan corrected. "He's my real brother."

"Yeah, these are my real brothers," Bobby stated sharply. "This is Angel. I'm Bobby. This is Jack, Jeremiah, Ben, and Lux. So, what about you and Damian? You guys close? Does he still live at home with you?"

"Yeah," Keenan huffed. "But, I'm not telling you shit else."

"Don't worry kid," Bobby smiled. "I wouldn't sell them out either."

Bobby snatched Keenan's backpack out of Angel's grip while Angel continued to talk to him. Assuring him that his brother would be left in one piece if he corroborated.

"He lives in the Gardens, right over there," Jerry said grabbing a piece of paper out of Bobby's hands.

"Enjoy the rest of the game, okay?" Angel reassured. "Don't worry about it."

"These are nice grades," Jack said. "Better stay in school."

"What is that?" Jerry asked picking up the necklace that Keenan was wearing. "Aluminum?"

"Shit doesn't even spin," Jack smirked.

"Guys, leave him be," I reproached. "Can't you see y'all scared the crap outta him? Don't worry kid. They're all bark."

It was a testament to how long we've all been out of Detroit because Keenan looked like he believed me. But, if it was a few years ago anyone would know that Mercer and completely harmless didn't belong in the same sentence, let alone in the same paragraph. Still I grabbed the backpack from Bobby and handed it to Keenan before we walked back out of the community center. We walked back to the car and drove over to the Garden apartment complex. The car was left idling on the corner. Bobby didn't want to turn it off because of how cold things have gotten. I was left sitting on Ben, in between Jack and Jerry.

"I just don't get it," Angel growled. "Why would somebody hire a goddamn killer to shoot Mom?"

"Here's an idea," Bobby growled. "We'll wait for the shit head to get back and we'll ask him."

"Well, y'all do what y'all gotta do," Jerry shook his head. "I got gymnastics. Come on, let me out."

"You got your leotard on, Jerry?" Bobby teased.

"Go to hell," Jerry shot back. "Y'all know what I'm talking about. I got a schedule to keep. Girls got gymnastics, I gotta take them. Come on, let me out, man."

"You wanna take Cracker Jack with you?" Bobby offered. "He's very flexible."

"Bobby, you're the one who took Ballet," Jack muttered as Jerry got out of the car.

I slid off Ben's lap and into the other seat as I looked around.

"I don't mind if it rains or freezes. Long as I got my plastic Jesus. Riding on the dashboard," Jack sang softly his fingers tracing patterns on the window.

"I don't know how you did it," Bobby snickered. "For so many years. Must've driven you crazy, Angel. You're on a ship for what, six months at a time with nothing but dudes?"

"It wasn't a ship," Angel corrected. "And the Marines went coed. They got girls now."

"Yeah, I bet you them girls looked like dudes too, though," Bobby laughed.

"Not after six months they don't," Angel replied.

We sat in silence for what seemed like only a few moments when Jack suddenly shouted, "Oh, that's him. It's him!"

We all ran out of the car following Damian into the building. Just as the elevator door opened, Bobby pulled his gun out, "Yo, Damian! You Damian?"

"Why are you pulling out guns and shit, dog?" Angel demanded.

"Yo!" Bobby shouted kicking the door just as it closed.

"Way to go, Bobby," Ben muttered.

"You two outside, make sure the motherfucker doesn't jump outta window," Bobby ordered. "Jack, stay here and tell me where it stops. Angel with me."

Ben and I walked back outside and wandered around the premises. Just as we turned the corner, I looked up and saw our guy dangling out the window, holding a gun and screaming at Bobby. Suddenly the rope he was climbing on got shot and he plummeted all the way to the ground, landing with a thud, causing some of the snow to stir. I looked at the window and saw that Bobby was leaning out the window, his hair in disarray as he glared down at where Damian fell.

"Man, you must be freezing," Bobby taunted as he, Jack, and Angel walked out of the building. "You know why we're here, Damian?"

"Come on, man, call me an ambulance," Damian pleaded.

"An ambulance?" Bobby snorted. "What, for my dog bites? I'm gonna be okay. You give me a name, I'll call. I wanna know who shot up that liquor store now."

"Man, I didn't shoot no one," Damian growled.

"Say what?" Angel hissed.

"Speak up, can't hear you playboy," Bobby sneered. "It's hard to hear you out here with all this wind."

"If we leave, ain't nobody else gonna hear you out here either," Angel noted.

"They say it's gonna be a cold night," Ben said.

"You're not gonna make it far with that leg," Jack explained.

"Look, man, these two fools said they'd pay me a few dubs if I said I saw some gangsters shoot up the place, all right? But I didn't hurt no one!"

"Well turn into a fucking Fudgsicle," Bobby growled.

"Hey, come on, man!" Damian cried. "I can't say anything!"

"Fair enough," Angel smiled. "You're gonna die right here."

We all turned and began to walk away knowing that Damian would call our bluff, after all we weren't lying. It would be almost impossible for people to know that he was out here with all the wind.

"I'll tell you where you can find him!" Damian yelled. "Just call me an ambulance!"

"You three stay here," Bobby ordered walking back over to Damian.

When we had called Damian an ambulance, we quickly fled the scene, knowing the guy was not stupid enough to rat on the Mercers. We piled back into the Oldsmobile and drove back home. Bobby kicked Ben and I out before driving off after the shooters. Ben and I were not okay with this decision but our brothers were nothing if not stubborn and finally told us if we didn't shut up they'd lock us in the closest to make sure we couldn't follow them.

"Fuck you, Bobby!" Ben shouted after the car as it disappeared down the block, and out of sight.

We looked at each other before rolling our eyes and walking back into the house. It was suspiciously empty especially since Sofi had taken up shop in Angel's room. The sounds of their escapades were heard about every night and I was about ready to kill them. There's some things you don't need to hear, your brother having sex was definitely one of them.

"I'll be back later," I called out to Ben.

"Where you going?" Ben asked.

"Just going to the store to pick up some things," I replied. At Ben's dubious look I continued, "I just need some tampons, alright?"

Ben blanched and waved me away, leaving me smirking as I snagged our keys and walked back out. That was one of the positives of having brothers all you had to do was mention your period and they'd all but shove you out the door. I drove the car over to the pharmacy and walked inside. I walked over to the counter and handed them the doctor's slip I made to get more Adderall. The person didn't even bat an eye before dosing out the prescription and handing it to me. I gave him twenty bucks before turning to head back to the house.

By the time I pulled back in front, all the lights were off but Bobby's car was still MIA. I popped a few pills before letting myself inside and up to my room. I placed the new bottle in my duffel bag before going back downstairs and to the computer in the basement. I hoped that my brothers had gotten the shooters that had killed our mother. I also hoped that they found the people who had sent the shooters in the first place. Everyone who could've been remotely responsible for Ma's death was going down and there was nothing they could do to stop us.


	8. All That You Can't Leave Behind

**Chapter Eight: All That You Can't Leave Behind**

The shooters were dead and Bobby's car was totaled. I didn't move from my place behind the computer monitor, knowing that Angel, Jack, and Bobby would assume we were all asleep. When the house once again fell silent I sat back in my seat. The people who had hit me and shot Ma was dead but that didn't make me feel any better. Ma was still dead and the people that ordered the hit was still alive.

It was only around four in the morning but I couldn't stay still, I was far too agitated to do anything but move around. I could feel exhaustion being to creep up on me, so I snuck into my room to take another pill or two.

"What are you doing?" Ben snapped.

I thought he had been sleeping but his hand was wrapped tightly around my wrist as hazel eyes narrowed angrily.

"Get off me," I growled, ripping my wrist from his hand. "And what the hell do you think I'm doing?"

"Are those the tampons you got?" Ben demanded, his lip curling in disgust.

"I need them," I snarled. "I thought you understand."

"Don't play that victim card on me," Ben hissed. "This doesn't get you sympathy. You're a fucking addict, Lux. And you need to sleep."

"I don't need anything," I snapped.

"Then you won't be needing these anymore, huh?" Ben sneered grabbing the bottle out of my hand and moving to throw them out of the open window.

"Ben, don't," I warned.

"Why?" Ben demanded rounding on me, sending me sprawling in the face of his anger. "I thought you said you don't need anything."

"I don't want to sleep," I whispered. "Just give them back."

"No!" Ben yelled. "You don't need these! Don't you get it, Lux? You'll kill yourself."

"I won't," I retorted.

"Jesus Christ, open your eyes," Ben barked. "I can see your fuckin ribs. And what did you do to get these? Lie? Steal?"

"Shut up, Ben," I snapped. "You don't understand."

"I don't want to fucking understand!" Ben snarled, shoving me into one of the walls. "I'm done turning the other cheek, hoping that you'll show me why people think you're the smart one."

"Fuck you," I growled. "And give 'em back!"

"No!" Ben snarled.

Before I could move, Ben had spun on his heel and threw the bottle out of the open window.

"I'll kill ya, you son of a bitch!" I seethed.

I ran at him, moving to tackle him when Ben grabbed hold of my arms using my momentum to toss me to the ground. I kicked his legs out from under him as I fought to get my breath back. When I got a lungful of air the fight began in earnest, quickly turning this into one of the most violent that Ben and I had ever had. Our door was thrown open and we were pulled from one another seconds later. Jack was struggling to hold me back while Bobby was having trouble immobilizing Ben.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Bobby demanded, finally getting a good enough hold on Ben and shaking him roughly. "It's four thirty in the fuckin morning."

"Yeah, Lux, why don't you tell Bobby," Ben grinned his eyes shifting from Bobby's to mine. "I'm sure he'll be very interested."

"Shut the fuck up, Benny boy," I warned, fighting Jack's hold.

"What the hell is going on?" Bobby growled.

"Ask the little pill popper," Ben muttered

"Whoa," Bobby snapped. "The hell do you mean pill popper?"

"Lux has been taking Adderall," Ben said. "You don't believe me look out the window. She also hasn't slept since her nightmare a couple nights ago."

"Ben," Bobby growled. "Jack. Get outta here."

"Bobby," Jack whispered.

"I said go, Jackie," Bobby growled.

I glared at Ben, who smirked at me before going down stairs. Jack followed only a moment after looking a bit more reluctance.

"You're popping pills," Bobby growled, shutting the door to eye me angrily. "Are you kidding me?"

"No, Bobby," I mumbled.

"Look at me, little girl," Bobby ordered lifting my chin with his forefinger, forcing me to look into furious hazel eyes. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about not failing outta school," I growled. "I'm the first one attending. Ma was so proud…"

"Yeah, Dorothea, she'd be real proud to know that her daughter is abusing prescription meds to stay awake to do more work. I know I'm thrilled."

"You don't understand!" I muttered. "It isn't high school, Bobby. Things are different the pressure is worse. The workload is twice as much. I was in the top of my class at Cass Tech and without Adderall I was at the bottom. They'll kick me out."

"They're going to kick you out," Bobby retorted sharply. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you'd get into. It's dangerous, Lux. You haven't slept in a week?"

"I feel fine," I rolled my eyes.

My eyes widened as Bobby slapped my cheek. It wasn't anywhere near as hard as I've ever been hit. Hell, Bobby has slapped me a hell of a lot harder upside the head. Still I was shocked but Bobby didn't let my hesitation throw him.

"You are not fine," Bobby growled stepping closer to glare down at me. "You haven't been eating. You haven't been sleeping. All you've been doing is cleaning and avoiding the issue. Ma is dead, Lux. And you know what I'm glad she is because if she were alive you'd be breaking her fucking heart!"

"And you wouldn't be?" I retorted shoving him backwards. "You killed two people. Damn it, Bobby you solved violence with fucking violence. You know how much she always hated that. But you did it anyway. To make yourself feel better."

"Shut your mouth," Bobby warned. "You're sleep deprived and not thinking straight. We'll talk about this after you've slept."

"I'm thinking fine, Bobby," I growled

"Bullshit," Bobby retorted. "This isn't the girl I know. My little sister would never take drugs, just to do well in school."

"Jesus fucking Christ, Bobby, I'm not in fucking school," I snarled. "I don't give a shit about school anymore. I don't want to sleep and you wanna know why? Because every fucking time I close my eyes I see Ma die. Over and over. I see it when I'm awake and the nightmares are worse. It's tainting every memory I ever had. Maybe I belong at Meadow Brook."

"Don't say that," Bobby whispered, all the anger suddenly gone from his voice. Leaving only concern is his gaze. "You belong here with your family."

I averted my gaze only to have Bobby place my face in his hands as his face became stern. "You're going to get some sleep. When you wake up we'll talk about this more. It's five in the morning, we could all use some sleep."

"I'm not sleeping," I shook my head at Bobby's warning look I continued. "Please, don't make me sleep, Bobby. Please."

"Luxie, you need your rest," Bobby said, firmly. "You also need to eat. Sleep first."

"Bobby…"

"Do you remember when you first came to live here and you had nightmares?" Bobby asked. "Nothing in the world could get you out of them or calm you down. Until Ma realized that all we had to do was let you and Ben sleep together or let you sleep with her or me or any of the others. When she realized that the regularity of which you had nightmares decreased dramatically."

Without letting me say a word, he grabbed me by the wrist. He let me go when he reached my bed pushing the covers back. He got in shuffling until his back was against the wall, leaving plenty of room for me. With an expectant look, I sighed climbing under the covers myself. Despite my protests I fell asleep rather quickly. Then again not wanting to sleep and having to sleep were two very different things.

I was still very much asleep when the house began to wake up. I didn't stay that way when a door was slammed shut with a sharp warning of, "Police in the house!" After being deprived of sleep for so long, I realized how much I needed it. The few hours I got was almost teasing, but still hearing that the police had come was enough to have me throwing on my sweatshirt and walking down the stairs just in time to see Angel and Fowler square off. I squeezed my way between Jack and Sofi in the doorway.

"Hey, stop!" Green snapped shoving Fowler back. "Look, Bobby, if you got something, you give it to me and if it's vital we'll run with this. But don't try and take on Detroit by your damn self. You keep knocking on the devil's door long enough, and sooner or later, somebody's gonna answer you."

"You!" Fowler growled as he walked up to me. "You still have to give me your statement."

"I'll give you a statement," I sneered. "Try this one: my mother's fucking dead and you're too fuckin' incompetent to find the people who murdered her. How's that for a statement?"

"Another Mercer with a smart mouth," Fowler rolled his eyes. "I'm shocked. Evelyn certainly did a fine job raising you all."

"Fowler!" Green reproached.

"Don't fucking talk about our mother," I growled pushing by Sofi to get in Fowler's face. Something that was made rather difficult by the fact that I was significantly shorter.

"Lux," Green warned, grabbing Fowler and shoving him out of the door. "He doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about."

"He should transfer out of Detroit," I rolled my eyes. "There's people worse than us who would've shot him on the spot for disrespect like that. Cop or no cop."

"You should be sleeping," Bobby announced when Green and Fowler had left, leaving an uneasy tension in their wake.

"You shouldn't be wearin' my robe," I smirked.

Just like that the uneasy feeling lifted as we all shared a laugh at Bobby's expense. After we had finished laughing, Bobby had stood up and led me back upstairs. He leaned against the wall as I climbed under the covers, giving me further evidence that Bobby would do whatever he thought was needed for us. Murder, assault, watching us while slept, keeping the nightmares at bay.

When I woke up again, it was the middle of the afternoon. Bobby wasn't in the room but Ben was. Sitting on his bed, he was watching me. Yawning I scooted up on my bed before glancing over at Ben. Neither he nor I said a word as I got up and moved over to the closet, quickly changing clothes. It was only until that I moved to go out of the door that Ben spoke up.

"Bobby told us to wait up here," Ben announced.

"Why?" I questioned.

"He said that he and Jerry had some things to discuss."

"That we're not privy too?" I rolled my eyes.

It was obvious that no matter what, our brothers would be avenging our mother without our help. It was bullshit.

"No, no, no!" Jerry screamed. You don't know who you're fucking with?"

"What are you hidin', Jerry?" Bobby demanded.

We heard a crash and a curse before Jerry retorted in equal volume. "What? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"If you had something to do with what happened…" Bobby growled. "I swear to God, Jerry, I'll kill you right here and now."

I didn't have to look backwards to know that Ben and I were once again thinking on the same wave-length as I slowly pushed open our door and stormed down the stairs, pausing long enough to grab the gun that Bobby had left on the top stair. Angel and Bobby were facing off against Jerry and Jack was sitting awkwardly on the couch. His spine was rigid as his teeth gnawed at his lip.

"No, Bobby, no!" Sofi gasped.

"Angel's gonna answer you some questions," Bobby continued as if Sofi hadn't spoken." And, brother, I shit you not, the time for lyin' is over."

"We know you're lying about your business," Angel stated. "And we know you got mixed up with some gangsters."

"Hold on, stay down!" Bobby ordered kicking Jerry back to the floor.

"Y'all think I had something to do with Mom getting killed?" Jerry snarled rising to his feet.

"You got a check for forty thousand dollars that you just so happened to forget to mention, from Mom's life insurance?" Bobby barked.

"She took out the policy for the girls," Jerry responded. "I ain't have nothin' to do with that. Come on."

"You made the payments!" Jack snapped.

"Good timing, Jerry," Bobby snarked. "Just when it seems like all is lost for you, Mom gets shot by some gangsters and now you hit the fuckin' lottery!"

"So, y'all trippin 'cause I made some insurance payments?" Jerry growled. "What? I paid all her bills! And where the fuck were y'all? How many years did I take care of her my goddamn self? Y'all were around doin' nothin'! And you're gonna tell me I killed her? Come on, man!"

Within that tirade Jerry had punched both Angel and Bobby, glaring angrily at all of us.

"So, why would you pay off a killer like Sweet?" Ben asked causing everyone to whirl around and stare at him in wonder. "What the fuck did he do for you?"

"How the fuck do you know about Sweet?" Bobby demanded at the same time Jerry huffed, "What did he do for me? He killed my fucking life! I put everything in that project. I bet it all tryin to make something of myself. Then Sweet's goons came in trying to take a piece."

"You paid him, Jerry," Jack spat. "You got into bed with him."

"No, no, I didn't pay them!" Jerry corrected. "That's how they fucking shut me down!"

"I thought the city shut you off."

"Douglas? Come on, man, this is Detroit! Sweet owns Douglas. He ain't nothing but a gangster in a suit! I don't pay him, and now he shuts my loans off. End of story, end of project."

"So what about the forty grand?" Ben asked.

"I just told you," Jerry retorted. "You wanna cross the bridge, you gotta pay the toll. I took the money. I was gonna pay the bribe until y'all fucked it up."

In the heat of the argument that no one had noticed that Jack had gotten up and answered the doorbell that had rang. I didn't notice until I felt the breeze of cold air quickly followed by Jack's shout of, "Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!"

"Jack!" I shouted, running after him. I noticed the snow that was in the doorway and Jack a few yards a head of me, chasing after someone in a hood.

I was closing the distance when the other kid suddenly turned revealing the hockey mask and pistol. Jack stopped short but it wasn't enough to keep him from getting shot in the shoulder.

"Jack!" I howled. "Bobby!"

I recoiled when the kid raised his head aiming the gun at me. I jumped in shock when a sudden gunshot blast echoed close to my ear. I turned around and saw Bobby on the porch, sawn-off shot gun in his grasp.

"Oh, god, Jackie, I whispered.

"Shit!" Bobby screamed. "Get down!"

I landed on Jack shielding him with my body as a van skidded around the corner. More masked men came pouring out of the van, bullets blazing with both Jack and I open and vulnerable. I screamed when a bullet pierced my shoulders and bullets riddled Jack's legs.

"Bobby!" Jack screamed, sobbing.

"Bobby!" I moaned.

"Hold on, you guys!" Bobby growled.

Bullets flew, low and close and loud as both Jack and I tried to hold on and minimize the targets on our back, knowing at any moment we could be shot fatally. Suddenly the bullets ceased, leaving a loud silence in its wake. I couldn't move, barely aware of Jack's own shallow breathing beside me.

"BOBBY!" I howled, when hands wrapped around my waist pulling me off the ground.

"Let's go!" Someone shouted. "We have what we came here for."

I caught a glimpse of the house riddled with gun shots, Jack laying in a puddle of his own blood before I was tossed in the back of the van. _'Move you little idiot,'_ I thought. My entire body ached and I knew that I had been shot at least twice but just sitting there wasn't helping.

"LUX!" Ben screamed.

That was like water in the face, hearing Ben's scream sent a jolt of adrenaline through my system as I scrambled in the van, elbowing one of the masked men as I grabbed the van doors with every intention of leaping out of the slow moving vehicle.

"BEN!" I yelled kicking one of the masked men in the stomach.

"Jesus Fuckin' Christ!" The driver yelled. "Shut the stupid bitch up already."

The last thing I saw was the butt of a shotgun rushing towards my face before my world exploded in pain and went dark.

**Four Hours Later**

"Look who's finally waking up," A deep, rumbling voice teased. "About goddamn time."

The amount of effort it took to open my eyes had me moaning in pain. My arms were twisted painfully behind my back, tied to the chair that I was sitting on. Any small moment was excruciating as I struggled not to move. The man who was standing directly in my line of sight obviously didn't respect that as his hand lunged out smacking me across the face.

"Lux Mercer, a pleasure, I'm sure." The man grinned.

"Victor Sweet?" I questioned.

"Ah, I see you've heard of me," Victor smirked.

"You murdered my mother," I growled.

"Now, let's mind our manners," Victor chided, helpfully smacking me again. "It's so hard to find good help these days. You weren't supposed to be harmed."

"What about my brother?" I demanded.

"We had to get you out of the house somehow," Victor shrugged.

"I swear to god, if he's hurt…"

"I know, you're not stupid enough to threaten me," Victor snarled.

"Bobby's going to kill you," I smiled. "They'll never be able to find your body."

I probably should've kept my mouth shut. But, one thing my brother's taught me was to never back down from anyone. If he was going to kill me, he would kill me regardless of what I said. And, I'd rather die with dignity that die a spineless brat.

"I'm not concerned about little Bobby Mercer," Victor sneered. "Your little family's about to wiped off the fucking map!"

"Or you are," I shrugged. "I think you're overcompensating. Still upset you were your Uncle's bitchboy for so long?"

"Evan, pistol!" Victor shouted, turning towards the man who was waiting in the back of the room.

**Ben's Point of View**

It was amazing how fast things could deteriorate. In less than forty-eight hours our house had been shot to shit, Jack may never walk again, and Lux had been taken god knows where. Waiting in St. Thomas was one of the most difficult thing I had done in a while. It felt like was twelve again, where I barely saw Lux, except for the few minutes down time where we were shuttled to different foster homes.

I hated not knowing where she was or if she was okay. Lux was a lot stronger than most people thought she was. The negative connotations of staying in a psychiatric hospital continued to weaken her reputation. Make people think she was weak, fragile. And to a point, maybe she was but Lux fought with all her strength even when all hope seemed lost.

Now though my concerns were split equally between Jack and Lux. The doctors weren't telling us much. Only that the bleeding had stopped but they wouldn't know the extent of the damages until he woke up…if he woke up. When the doctor had said if it took all three of us to restrain Bobby from beating the stupid health professional into a coma.

I didn't know what we were going to do. It was obvious that Sweet was out for blood, but we were going to let this stand. We had to find Lux and we were going to finish this before we all ended up dead.

"Bobby, can I talk to you for a minute?" I whispered. "Alone?"

Bobby looked up glancing over at Jerry and Angel before rising to his feet and following me over to the vending machine cluster.

"What's up, Benny boy?" Bobby asked.

"You need to catch me up on everything," I stated. "Keeping Lux and I out of the loop wasn't helping. You need us, Bobby. Jack is in the hospital and Lux is still in danger. I need to help."

"No," Bobby retorted. "Absolutely not."

"Bobby," I groaned. "Come on."

"Ben," Bobby warned.

I knew that Bobby's nerves were frayed to breaking, and it was not rise to continue to argue with him. But, this was ridiculous. No matter how pissed Bobby, Angel, and Jerry were they couldn't take on Sweet and their goons by themselves. I wasn't a baby, I could help. My mother had died too. It was my brother in that hospital room, and my twin sister who was missing. I wasn't on the outside of this anymore, I never really had been, and it was time that Bobby recognized that.

"Bobby, you need my help," I insisted. "She was my mother too. Jack might not wake up and I can't sit idly by and wait for Lux to turn up dead!"

"Don't talk like that," Bobby reproached. "Listen to me, I need to make sure you're safe. I'm keeping you out of this fight." I moved to protest but Bobby shot me a scathing look before continuing. "I need you to stay here. We can't leave Jack unprotected. They wanted to kill him and they might come back to finish the job."

"Damn it, Bobby," I frowned.

"Sweet's not livin' past tonight, Benny," Bobby stated. "I can promise ya that."

"Do you think she's still alive?" I whispered.

"Yeah," Bobby sighed. "If I were Sweet, I'd be using her as leverage. You wouldn't kill off the one thing that would keep you safe, would you?"

"No," I replied.

Even if Sweet was just keeping Lux alive for his own wellbeing, I didn't trust that she was okay. I didn't like this, I didn't like not knowing whether Jack would live or die or if Luxie was even alive. I rationalized that, as her twin, if she was dead I'd know on some level. But, I didn't feel anything that time where she almost killed herself. The truth was I didn't know what Sweet was capable of, our how compliant Lux would be to things. I remembered Victor being a hot head, even when he was just a messenger for his Uncle and knowing my sister as well as I did, she would find just the right buttons to push.

"Stay here, Benny," Bobby whispered dropping a hand on my shoulder. "We'll be back as soon as we can."


	9. Downward Spiral

**Chapter Nine: Downward Spiral**

"_Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But, in they always fall. Always."_

**Outsider's Point of View**

On the corner of Charlotte Street and 2nd Avenue sat the Mercer house. The house had once been a revolving door for foster children until Evelyn Mercer had adopted six children, after that there was an occasional guest staying the night but it was the Mercer's house. Though most can't deny the fact that the Mercer children were rambunctious and violent. They were loud and hardly well behaved. But, not even on their worst stunts had the house that had been a home to all of them looked like this. The light brown house was riddled with bullet holes. The enclosed porch had broken glass littering the ground. Pictures were fallen around the entrance to the house.

"Jesus, look at this place," Bobby groaned. He avoided looking towards the electricity pole where there was still a puddle of Jack's blood. They had come so close to losing him at that very spot, but the second youngest boy was still in the fight for his life.

Both Jerry and Angel remained silent, ignoring the police officers buzzing around treating their home as a normal crime scene. Bobby sat on the front steps, with Angel and Jerry following suit, watching as Lieutenant Green approached them.

"Look, I'm really sorry, guys," Green said. "But, what happened here?"

"Victor Sweet did this," Bobby growled.

"How do you figure that?" Green replied.

"Because his friend in the bag over there told me," Bobby smirked.

"Okay, I'll make sure I get a statement from him then," Green sneered.

"Why did Sweet do us like this, man?" Angel muttered. "And, why did it have to be our moms?"

"Because Evelyn was going after him," Green filled them in. "She knew her son, man. She never thought for a second that you were corrupt."

"But, I never told her about my business," Jerry frowned.

"Jerry, were you ever able to keep a secret from her?" Green scoffed. "She knew all about your trouble, man. The moment they shut you down, she went down there, raising hell with the councilman."

"You gonna bury Sweet, or are we?" Bobby demanded.

"Well, I got me a dirty uniform I gotta deal with first," Green retorted.

"What?" Angel asked.

"You see, Evelyn filed a report that got passed on to Victor Sweet."

"By who?" Bobby snapped.

"Look, I just got something I…"

"Don't bullshit me, Green," Bobby warned. "Who are you protectin'? Your boy Fowler?"

"Look, Fowler's my problem," Green snarled. "I'll deal with him and then we get Sweet."

"So, how are we gonna deal with all this?" Angel asked.

"Self defense," Green shrugged. "Wasn't it?"

The Mercer brothers said nothing to disagree and Green knew when it was time to leave them alone. They had enough to deal with Lux missing, Jack in ICU, and their mother gone, he knew better than to add onto any of that.

It was another two hours before they were let back into their house, they stood around the dining room table looking at the pictures on the wall. The ones that hadn't been knocked down in the all the gunfire were filled with bullet holes but it was still easy to see some of the pictures.

"What are we gonna do?" Angel demanded.

"You can go to war with Victor Sweet," Jerry stated. "Not straight up. He'll just hire more and more goons until we're all dead."

"I don't know," Bobby confessed, staring at his little sister's smiling face. Who even knew if she was still alive or dead, or what Victor had done to her. "I don't know what to do anymore."

"We have to get Lux back," Angel growled. "She's not dead yet. She can't be."

"I got an idea," Jerry said.

"What?" Angel asked

"We'll take the rest of the money from Mom's insurance, pay Sweet to call off the dogs," Jerry explained. "He'll deal. He's a businessman."

"It doesn't count as a plan if it takes longer to say it than it does to think it up," Bobby frowned.

"Yeah, Jerry, Sweet will meet up with you, take your money, and we won't find your body until the river thaws," Angel agreed.

"If you can get that far," Bobby looks away.

"Trust me," Jerry said. "It'll work. Give me twenty minutes, I'll be right back."

Before either Bobby or Angel could say another word, Jerry was out the door and into his Volvo driving towards an old friend's house.

"This is crazy," Angel growled.

"Crazy is all we got," Bobby scoffed.

"You think Lux is still alive?" Angel whispered.

"I don't know," Bobby frowned. "It's not like he took her to ransom her off. We would've heard something by now."

Bobby's phone rang interrupting the conversation that neither brother really wanted to have.

"Ben?" Bobby asked answering the phone.

"Bobby, Jack's outta surgery," Ben announced. "But, they're not letting me see him and they won't tell me anything."

"Okay, Benny, calm down," Bobby soothed. "They probably gotta get him situated. I'm sure they'll explain everything soon."

"Yeah?" Ben sighed.

"Yeah," Bobby replied.

"What about Lux?" Ben demanded. "Is she okay? Have you heard anything"

"Not yet," Bobby said.

"Bobby…"

"Yo," Jerry called walking through the door. "Evan called Sweet. He's going for it."

"Ben, I'll talk to you later," Bobby said shutting his phone closed. "So, when's the meet?"

"Four o'clock," Jerry stated.

"Today?" Bobby growled.

"Yeah," Jerry shrugged.

"That's in three hours," Angel cried.

"Well, we ain't got no choice," Jerry retorted. "Sweet's supposed to roll up on us any minute now."

"What?" Bobby asked. "What else?"

"Well, Evan, we cool," Jerry explained. "And he let me in on a little something. If Fowler's there, he don't think he's gonna go for it."

"So, there's no plan," Bobby snapped.

"Yeah, there is Bobby," Angel disagreed. "We need to take Fowler out before the meet."

"We can't kill a cop even if he's dirty," Jerry retorted.

"He handed Ma to Sweet, okay?" Bobby snarled. "He's not walking away from this."

"What about Lux?" Angel asked.

"Evan doesn't know for sure but rumor has it that Sweet's talking bout a new piece of merchandise," Jerry growled. "Description matches Luxie's."

"That son of a bitch," Bobby yelled. "Okay, we gotta get everyone else outta here. Angel, tell Sofi to pack a bag. Jerry, get Camille and the girls and get them outta town. I'll go tell Ben to stay at the hospital."

**Lux's Point of View**

The last thing I remembered was Sweet's cry of "pistol" before everything went back. I thought maybe he had actually killed me but nope I had just been shot in the shoulder, a clean through and through, which seems almost considerate for a man who had tried to wipe the Mercer family off the map, the day before.

I came to wearing only a thin tank top and a pair of panties. I felt ridiculously exposed and angry about that fact. I wasn't exactly sure where I was but there was a small sticky note on my leg. I picked it up and read it feeling better about my situation. Jerry's friend, Evan had written the note saying that he was going to try to get me out of here, but it would be a lot easier if I didn't provoke Sweet.

I crumbled up the note and threw it behind the couch as a door swung open. Two of Sweet's enforcers came storming into the room and grabbed me by my arms pulling me with them through the door. My right arm, the one that had been shot, screamed in protest but I managed to bite back my moan of pain. I was carried through the mansion and into the garage and thrown into one of the black jeeps. The door shut and locked behind me. Before I could say a word or even wonder what was going on, I noticed that I wasn't alone in the car.

"Your brother's are negotiating for your life," Sweet sneered. "Who knew that the Mercer's weakness was family."

"You did," I growled.

He smacked me across the face without even looking in my direction.

"When I ask for your opinion you'll know, bitch," Sweet snapped. "Did you know your life and that of your useless brother's life is 400 grand?"

"More than your life 400 times over, I'd say," I retorted.

"You know, I got respect the fight in you," Sweet said, conversationally. "It means it is going to be so much more fun to break you of it. You'll be calm and docile before you know it."

"If I could be broken, I would've already been," I muttered.

"Careful, Lux, there's a difference between having a spine and being a fool."

I glared at him, but he smiled back without hesitation, clearly feeling no pressure. It must've been good to feel to be king of Detroit's underground. I glanced out of the window, not exactly sure where I was or where we were going. I settled back figuring that if Sweet wanted me dead, I would've been stone cold by now. But, my brothers were still in harms way. I tried not to think about Jack, how bullets had riddled his legs, in addition to the one who had gone through his shoulder. I hoped that he wasn't dead, there had been too much death to think about more.

"Look at that," Sweet smiled and I did as he said looking through the front windshield to where a group of men had gathered. "Your fool brother showed up and they say there's no such thing as a free lunch."

A jeep pulled to a stop about ten feet from where the group had gathered. Sweet slide out of the car with his two goons stepping out as well.

"Let's sink this dumb-ass and get out of here," Sweet ordered. "I got a candlelit date lined up with a hot piece of Puerto Rican pussy. Hey, maybe I can turn into a ménageá trois deal. What do you say, sweetheart?"

"If you think you're walking away from this, you're a bigger idiot than I thought you were," I snarled. "But, I'm not above a pity fuck."

"You little bitch," Victor growled.

He rushed towards me with a rage I had seen multiple times in foster parents. He smacked me around, bloodying my nose and splitting my lip. He wrapped a fist around my hair pulling me out of the jeep.

"I was going to let you stay in the car, but now I can see you need to be put in your place," Sweet hissed. "Let's go, bitch. Now you can say goodbye to your brother."

I barely managed to hold on to the scream that bubbled up my throat as my bare feet landed on snow. I stumbled along after him already shivering in the cold Detroit air. As Sweet approached the circle of men he pushed me towards one of his lackey's.

"Jeremiah Mercer," Sweet sneered. "Businessman."

"Lux," Jerry whispered.

"Oh, right," Sweet smirked. "That sweet piece is your sister."

Jerry's eyes glowed with rage as he looked me over from head to toe.

"Give me that," Sweet ordered snagging a duffel bag from Jerry. He crouched down and opened it, revealing that it was filled with money. "God Damn, I like the way you do business! You're a reasonable man, you should've let me in on your project. We could've been partners, it would've been a sweet deal for both of us."

"We gonna deal or what?" Jerry demanded.

"Careful, now," Sweet whispered. "Watch your tone."

"My tone?" Jerry whispered. "I thought we had a deal."

"And what was that deal, again?" Sweet asked. "You give me 400 grand and I pardon you and your brothers and your sister, is that right? Forgive and forget, right?"

"That's right," Jerry said. "My brothers said that I was naïve. That you would shoot me and just take the money."

"Damn, man, you hurt my feelings."

"Good," Jerry sneered. "Because you don't know shit about hurt feelings. I just buried my mama, you shot my brother, and kidnapped my sister. I think that's payment enough, Vic."

"You been doing a lot of thinking, boy," Sweet scoffed.

"Yeah, my mama raised me to be a thinking man," Jerry stated.

"Well, my Uncle taught me that actions speak louder than words."

I gasped when Sweet whirled around grabbing me from the person who had been holding me into their side, seemingly attempting to give me some warmth in the freezing environment. I had already been shivering uncontrollably, and could no longer feel my feet. So, my reaction time was slowed as Victor pulled me away from the person, glared at Jerry before walking towards the hole in ice.

"Jerry?" I whispered.

I barely saw two people get in front of my older brother before I had been pushed. For a moment it felt like I was flying, and then I hit the water. I had heard once that falling into freezing water was the worst pain you could imagine. But the reality was so much more than that. I thought I knew pain, truthfully though, I had never felt the agony I felt the instant I hit the water. Every inch of my body was alive and screaming.

"Swim!" My mind screamed and I fought my way to the surface.

"Come here, girl," One of the men barked holding out his hand.

Somehow he grabbed my wrist and pulled me onto the ice. Someone else pulled me to my feet and into his arms. I was barely aware of the fact that there were so many people shouting and cheering as I was crushed by the crowd.

"Lux, talk to me," Jerry pleaded as wrapped me in his jacket, followed by blankets. He cranked up the heat but I was still freezing.

"Lux!" Jerry growled.

"Cold," I whimpered.

"Hey, you can't go to sleep right now," Jerry scolded. "Open your eyes."

The effort it took to even open one of my eyes was ridiculous.

"What's going on, Jer?"

"Bobby, we gotta go," Jerry mumbled.

"What are we looking at?" Bobby demanded as he hopped into a driver's seat as Jerry got into the back.

"Hypothermia," Jerry sighed. "No doubt about it. She's blue, Bobby."

"Then call the fucking hospital!"

"No, no, Lux!" Jerry shouted. "You have to stay awake. Please, baby girl."

I felt more than heard Jerry's pleas as he shook me, urging me to keep my eyes open. If only he knew how impossible the normally easy task was. There was no reason why things should be this difficult but they were. My eyelids felt leaden. I could feel my body shutting down, but I kept shivering. Somewhere I knew that if I stopped that uncontrollable movement, I'd be dead before we could even reach the hospital.

The next time I woke up it was too a blindingly white, too-clean room. The hospital. My eyes opened in slits as I tried to make out my surroundings. There were IVs plugged into either arm and I could hear Bobby snoring in the chair besides my bed. His feet were on the side of the bed, his head hanging back. It took a lot of effort to knock his feet off the bed, effectively startling him awake.

"The fuck," Bobby barked before his eyes landed on mine and then both his eyes and voice softened. "Lux."

I opened my mouth, trying to speak but only managed to irritate my throat, throwing me into a coughing fit that left my eyes watering and my ribs aching. Terrific. Bobby leapt into action quickly pouring a cup of water. When the coughing died down he held it up to my lips and helped me take small sips.

"Home," I croaked.

"You just woke up and you're asking to go home?" Bobby scoffed. "Nice try, Lux. You're not leaving here just yet. Don't look at me like that."

"How long?"

"It's January."

"What?" I shrieked before falling into another coughing fit.

The sensors attached to me began chirping sending a rush of people into the room.

"Sir, you're going to have to step outside," One of the nurses ordered.

"Do _not_ touch me," I hissed. "He's not going anywhere."

"Lux," Bobby frowned.

"We just have to check your vitals," The same nurse soothed.

"I'm fine," I growled.

"Miss, you've been in a coma for the better part of a month," A doctor explained. "We have to make sure that there was nothing we might've missed in the original diagnosis."

"Like what?" Bobby demanded.

"Anything, sir," The doctor said. "Your sister's survival rate wasn't very high. We have to make sure that nothing's damaged either from the cold or the fact that she was technically dead for five minutes."

"I died?" I whispered.

"Your body was pushed to the limit," The doctor replied. "Which is why we have to make sure everything is okay. Your brother can stay."

I sat still allowing the doctor to scan my body, searching for anything they might've missed. When everything on the surface was deemed acceptable I was wheeled down the hallway to get x-rayed and an MRI done. After both things were over I was escorted back to my room where Bobby, Angel, and Ben were waiting.

"You need to stay in bed, Ms. Mercer," A nurse stated firmly when it looked that I was going to get up.

"Where's Jack," I demanded, ignoring the woman.

"He's fine," Bobby said. "He's in physical therapy, will most likely walk with a limp for the rest of his life but he's okay. A lot of the bullets were grazes or superficial, the ones that weren't were luckily mostly fixable."

"What about Sweet?" I asked.

"We will never have to worry about him again," Angel said.

"Okay, boys, your sister needs to rest," The nurse stated.

They all looked like they were going to argue but the nurse didn't seem to care as she ushered them out of the door, closing it behind her. Clearly the nurse was new because not even an hour later, Ben had snuck back in.

"Hey," I croaked, tiredly.

"Hey," He said.

"It's good to see you."

"Shit, Luxie, I thought I'd lost you, again."

"I'm sorry, Benny," I whispered.

He closed the distance between us, slipping out of his shoes and joining me on the hospital bed. I curled into side as his arms wrapped around me. It was a position that we had outgrown years ago, but neither of us were focusing on the fact that we were too old to be like this, we were focused on the fact that we were together, that the family was okay. This was one position that had been seen a lot when I first arrived at the Mercer's, when neither Ben nor I were comfortable letting one another out of our sight.

_**Outside Point of View**_

_When Evelyn rescued Lux from Meadow Brook Psychiatric Hospital, she thought for sure that Evelyn that would pass her to the next family. Instead the woman had taken Lux to her house, talking to the young girl the entire ride home in a low soothing voice._

"_I have four sons," Evelyn explained. "Soon to be five but he had stipulations."_

"_Oh," Lux whispered._

"_I think you'll like them," Evelyn replied._

_Lux didn't say anything because while this woman was nice, and had rescued her. But, Lux didn't trust men, after all one had been raping her consistently over the course of a year. Evelyn took the silence in stride, parking her mini van in front of her house._

"_I promise that they'll be on their best behavior," Evelyn said as she ushered the girl up the salted walkway and into the warm house._

_Evelyn opened the front door noticing that the girl was now using her as a shield. It broke Evelyn's heart but she was use to seeing this whenever she had one of her foster children stay the night._

"_Boys!" Evelyn called. "Come greet our guest."_

_The boys surfaced from all areas of the house, stopping a few feet away from their mother, trying to peer around her. Lux was going a good job at hiding until she caught sight of the soon to be newest Mercer. Ben was the last to arrive, stopping next to Jack. _

_When Lux gasped she startled everyone and then she was off like a shot, running straight at Ben. She collided with him, Ben for his part realized who had run at him and hugged her tightly._

"_Oh, my god, Lux," Ben whispered. _

_Evelyn smiled at the scene of the siblings reuniting. It wasn't often that Evelyn was able to keep siblings together so to be able to put the twins back together. Lux began to cry as she realized that she had found Ben. When Ben pulled back he saw the scratches that ran down her neck to her collarbone and the one that split her left eyebrow._

"_What happened?" Ben demanded._

_Lux just shook her head realizing that there were other people in the room._

"_Lux, these are my sons," Evelyn explained pointing them out one by one. "That's Bobby, Angel, Jeremiah, and Jack. Boys, this is __Dorothea_ _Lux, she's Ben's sister."_

_Ben and Lux didn't let one another out of each other's sight for weeks. It took even longer for Lux to even be comfortable around the other boys. It would've even be longer if Ben hadn't gotten involved. His trust in their new brothers had Lux warming up to them faster. It took a long time for Lux to trust her new brothers the way she trusted Ben. Bobby swore that the first time Lux ran to him after a nightmare instead of Ben to be one of the best moments he had with his little sister. Because he knew more of her past than the others and knew how much it took for her to trust strangers after everything she had been through._

**Lux's Point of View**

It hit me in the middle of the night as I cuddled into my twin brother that we had almost lost each other. That I had almost died out on that ice. The fact that I survived with only a few side effects was insane. It was another two weeks before I was allowed to be released from the hospital. Though, it was on a temporary basis, as I still had to attend physical therapy because my muscles had atrophied slightly. At least Jack and I were in the same class. Jack had moved from a wheel chair to crutches and while he would limp for the rest of his life, he was with us.

Evelyn Mercer might be dead, murdered in cold blood, but the lessons she taught my brothers and I stayed with us. The countless lives she saved and the family she gave us were gifts. Detroit definitely missed her, but not as much as we did.

Between my physical therapy and Jack's, our brothers worked on restoring the house. I knew that Bobby had called University of Pennsylvania in order to ensure that I had a medical leave, which would guarantee me a place for a full calendar year. Before Mom had died my brothers and I had scattered to all corners of the country, with her death, it seemed like we didn't really want to go that far from one another.

**One Year Later (Outsider's Point of View)**

"I know present to you, University of Pennsylvania's graduating class of 2007," Amy Gutmann, the President of the University announced to the crowd that filled the stadium.

Dorothea Lux Mercer leapt to her feet with the rest of her classmates with a cheer. Despite everything that had happened in her life, she now held two degrees, one in History and the other in biochemistry. Dorothea Lux was able to do something that she had never even fathomed some eleven years prior, where she had almost taken in her life.

Evelyn Mercer had saved Dorothea from a life in a Psychiatric Hospital. She had given the twenty-two year old a home and brothers. Dorothea had been reunited with her twin brother and given four new brothers who were loyal, and protective, and everything she never dreamed could happen. Evelyn Mercer had given her hope, made her realize her potential. And as the new college graduate walked over to where her family had gathered, she couldn't be happier.

Jack Mercer had survived a shoot out, though he walked with help from a cane. Jack and his band, The Strokes had recently signed a record deal, due to be released that very year. Jeremiah and Camille Mercer, and their two daughters moved to Philadelphia shortly after Dorothea Lux went back to school. While, Detroit would always be home, it was too difficult with Evelyn no longer present. Bobby and Ben ran a rather successful automotive shop, which was also located in Philadelphia. Angel Mercer and his fiancé, Sofi stayed in Detroit. Sofi was pregnant and they also were foster parents, having adopted a boy, Sammy and a girl Vanessa. They lived in the house that the Mercer siblings had grown up in, not being able to just sell the home that Evelyn had willingly opened to them.

No matter where Bobby, Jeremiah, Angel, Jack, Ben, or Lux Mercer found themselves, they knew that family would always be there. It had been the one lesson that Evelyn never really had to teach her children, they were loyal to one another because, in the end, family is all that matters.


End file.
